Réka Szilvay

Réka Szilvay (born 1972 in Helsinki ) is a Finnish- Hungarian violinist.

Education and work

Réka Szilvay was born in Helsinki, the daughter of a Hungarian-Austrian family of musicians. At age four, she began under the guidance of her father Géza Szilvay, the founder of Colourstrings method for teaching music, playing the violin. As a child she performed over 50 times as a soloist in Finnish television and played at the age of ten years for the first time with the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. At twelve, she was accepted into the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where she studied with Tuomas Haapanen. From 1992 to 1998 she studied at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts, visiting master classes with Gerhard Schulz ( Alban Berg Quartet). They also participated in master classes by Sándor Végh, Ana Chumachenco and György Kurtág. In 2006 Szilvay was appointed professor of violin at the Sibelius Academy.

Instrument

Szilvay plays a so-called " Irish Stradivari " from 1702, on loan from the OKO Bank Art Foundation.

Career

The international career of Szilvany began in 1999 with her debut at the Vienna Musikverein. Since then, she has given numerous concerts throughout Europe, China, Japan, Taiwan, South America and the United States. She performed with many major ensembles such as the Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, on. Repeatedly she played in the Salzburger Festspielhaus with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, They also played with the Super World Orchestra at the Tokyo Suntory Hall, the Copenhagen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Polish Chamber Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Strasbourg and the Haydn Philharmonic. In her performances she has worked with eminent conductors as Valery Gergiev, Leif Segerstam, Adam Fischer, Neeme Järvi, Mikko Franck, Andrew Litton, Jukka -Pekka Saraste, Mark Wigglesworth, Sakari Oramo, Markus Stenz, Osmo Vänskä, Fabio Luisi, Rumon Gamba, Libor Pesek, Sian Edwards, Hubert Soudant and János Fürst together.

In 2001 Réka Szilvay was elected to the circle of " Rising Stars". This enabled her along her musical partner, pianist Christoph Berner, a tour with performances in some of the most important concert halls in the world, such as the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Vienna Konzerthaus, London's Wigmore Hall, Symphony Hall, Birmingham, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Cologne Philharmonie, Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Megaron Concert Hall in Athens and Brussels Palais des Beaux -Arts.

Discography

• The 7 Seasons by Antonio Vivaldi: Jaakko Kuusisto (composition), Csaba & Géza Szilvay, Réka Szilvay, The Helsinki Strings (artists ), Finlandia Warner Records, 2001