Hi everyone, and welcome to my profile!

Im Krisztin Zoltn Kocsis, a 19-year-old Hungarian pianist, composer,

arranger, self-taught bass guitarist and university student, who currently
learns at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music under Prof. Klmn Drf in
Classical Piano Bachelor Training, graduating the next year, and under
Gergely Barta in Composition BA. As a child of skilled musician parents -
one of whom was an internationally recognized superstar in his heyday,
Zoltn Kocsis - my direction and objective towards life was basically a no-
brainer for me. Music was practically my daily bread from around when I
was 4 years old. I wholeheartedly knew from an early age when things
like responsibility and liability is not really formulated yet in a persons life
- that this is the thing that I want to do all my life, and even to this day,
this attitude havent changed a bit. My relationship with the outstanding
music pedagogue and piano teacher, Erika Becht dates back to the above
mentioned period. She introduced me to the basics of piano playing in an
intuitive, comprehensible and empathic way. I learned a lot from her, and
can honestly say that I owe her a lot even as a more matured individual.
My professional performing career dates from 2010, when I won the first
prize at the Twelfth National Piano Competition in Nyregyhza, and the
following year at the Third Bla Bartk National Piano Competition when I
became awarded with several Special Prizes. Since as a pianist I was
fortunate enough to collaborate with many extraordinary musicians and
orchestras many of whom are very successful both here in Hungary and
abroad: The Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Pannon
Philharmonic Orchestra, the Szeged Symphonic Orchestra, the Gyr
Symphonic Orchestra, the Grazioso Chamber Orchestra and the Budapest
Strings Chamber Orchestra and so forth. I gave concerts in many of my
homelands famous concert halls, including the Bartk Bla National
Concert Hall in the Palace of Arts. In May 2013 Ive been awarded the
Philomuses prize in the Ile de France International Piano Competition,
Paris, France, and the next year I gave my debut recital at the great
French capital. In the March of 2014, I won the third price on the
International Piano Competition Bla Bartk in Szeged. In 2015 I began my
studies at my current alma mater, the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music. In
2016, I participated in the International Liszt Ferenc Piano Competition in
Budapest widely regarded as one of the toughest piano competitions ever
conceived in terms of repertoire. I got to the final round as the only
Hungarian among the 6 laureates, where I won several special prizes,
among other concert invitations and rewards. The same year in October, I
was awarded with the prestigious Junior Prima award.
My main objective as a young fellow musician is to provide a fresh,
new, alternative approach to Western European art music both in the
performing arts and compositional territory both of which are suffering a
great deal of deterioration today partly because the vastly oversaturated
and uniformised market, and the intensive, and downright harmful
mainstream influence on young musicians owned and orchestrated by the
musical establishment of the ruling management companies and festivals.
I would greatly appreciate to see the art of free improvisation coming back
to the concert stages as well as a wider cooperation among the young
talents from around the globe, who are in great need for a change.
As a performing artist and professional pianist, my main inspiration
and influences are rooted in the so called Golden Age of pianism: Sergei
Rachmaninov, Wilhelm Backhaus, Dinu Lipatti, Moriz Rosenthal you
name it. My ultimate goal is to restore and incorporate the traditional
New-German, Lisztian school of romantic pianism into our modern,
contemporary world. However, I thoroughly reject the term conservative
because I dont want everyone to live in the past, I just want to convince
the audience of today, that the teachings of our forefathers have equal
importance today, and that these values shouldnt be dying out. Bartk
Bla once said that a great pianist should have three virtues: impeccable
technique, talent, and originality and each one of them should be
perfectly balanced. I think the future generation of pianistic talents are
desperately in need of a new direction to go forward, and a stable ground
which one can build their visions and dreams onto. Unfortunately, the
western performing arts and music of today becomes more and more
synonymous with the pointless, over the top, and clich - lacking any kind
of intellectual depth or any kind of actual technical, proficient
musicianship, while the other half remains in what I call the black hole:
a plethora of outdated mannerisms and extreme mezzo forte
compulsiveness, sacrificing every aspect of the intentions of great
composers in favor of a dull, but polished, refined soundscape. Young
musicians are taught in the worlds several big name conservatories to
accept and embrace this nonsense, throw away their individuality, and
they are encouraged to do so themselves. The mainstream is pushing
towards the idea of mashing together what was once called by
Schopenhauer the wills greatest manifestation and populist ideas of
attracting a massive audience through providing something to the masses
what is easy-to-consume in the form of bland entertainment, and
ludicrous pseudo-intellectualism. Toxic ideologies like blurring the line
between popular music and the meaningful contemporary performing arts
of today are the reason why many young talents dont know their place in
the world anymore, and so called music competitions really just prove
my point. The establishment are teaching young musicians not to care
about their profession for the sake of music itself, but to achieve money
and fame, which means nothing in the long run. They teach us not to work
together, but to work for ourselves placing our own interests before other
important things. I beg to differ. I think is is a noble cause to serve a
power greater than a promising, but meaningless career. It is our duty to
continue what the great masters of the past began. One of my friends
who is also an excellent artist of his own said that those chosen ones,
who were given a chance to learn a musical instrument are merely
prophets of their own God: the spirit of the great geniuses. I suggest to all
of you embrace your identity as a musician, and hold dearly what you
stand for and nature will take its course. Being a practicing concert
pianist, Im a fairly versatile performer with a considerable repertoire
ranging from Bach to Bartk. Even though my main area of expertise are
solo performances, Im eligible for all kinds of projects: chamber music,
orchestral music and studio sessions, just to name a few. As far as styles
go, I usually stick to what I know best: the western art music in a broader
sense, however, lately, the American popular/film music of the pre 60s
period really began to fascinate me, so if your project involves a certain
amount of that, or has something to do with it, let me know, and Ill be
happy to make an arrangement with you.
As a composer I tend to lean towards what I call traditional
futurism. I like the kind of works, that are aesthetically pleasing, with
tonal centers, rich, vast harmonies, complex counterpoint and big melodic
lines. Nevertheless, I dont compose from a cookbook. And what I mean
by that is in each and every one of my works, I aim for a different sound,
and Im definitely not afraid of experimenting, when a piece demands it -
deriving influences from what is outside of the common practices
boundaries. At the same time, I dont like to distance myself too far from
traditional forms very often either, and my devotion to the older masters
(like Wagner and Brahms) reflects my compositional approach too. I like
pieces that can say much with little, and I always valued simplicity and
straightforwardness before anything else. My fundamental thesis is that
the composers should get their main influence from nature itself like
Liszt demonstrating the idea of rubato in front of a tree -, not from some
man-made, artificially created blueprint. I like my pieces to be well-crafted
and to be rewarding to the performer and I would like to compose the kind
of music that can give something to the listener and if there is occasion,
uplifts them and helps them become a better person in some way. Out of
all the things, perfection is something that will never be achieved but still
we are seeking it for as long as we live. Kodly Zoltn once said my
method is that I dont have a method and I think that every young
composer should take advice from him. Alas, the contemporary
mainstream music of today became a monster fueled by elitism and
cultural degeneracy, so I first and foremost would like to clarify that the
best thing I could do at the moment is to distance myself away from that,
so if that is what youre interested in, I rest my case. Luckily, the magic of
being a composer today is that you can absorb all kinds of ideas,
preconceptions and influences because of the extraordinary amount of
resources you can work with, and to thank God more and more young
people are turning away from all this mainstream nonsense nowadays,
and have begun to question the emperors clothes. As a pianist, a great
deal of my body of work contains large-scale piano pieces (Fantasias,
Sonatas, Waltzes, etc.), but so far I have composed Chamber music,
Cantatas, Choir Works, Songs, and a whole Piano Concerto. Im
commissionable for almost anything at this point: Sacred music, secular
music, short pieces to full scale operas, solo pieces to grandiose
orchestral arrangements you name it. I generally stay away from film
music and TV spots but given the proper circumstances, we can make a
deal out of anything really.
Everything that I established in the composer section, applies
here too. Furthermore, as an arranger, I have a special talent for
transcribing practically anything by ear, as well as orchestrating,
composing paraphrases around certain given melodies, composing in a
period style, and elaborating on folk music of any kind. This is basically
the free section where you can let your imagination run wild.
As a bass guitarist Im entirely self-taught and have little to no
experience. But. In my brief 1,5-year tenure as a rock musician in a more
or less professional environment, I was able to learn quite a lot about the
profession how to make great bass lines, how to properly fill my role in
the band, imitating different styles and players (ranging from James
Jamerson muted sound to the grittiest heavy metal distortion) and so
forth. As you have guessed it, my main focus here is mainly rock/blues
music from the 70s-80s, but I tend to enjoy a funkier/Motown way of
playing this wonderful and underappreciated instrument.
Thank you for your attention, I hope you enjoyed this introduction!
For further details, please get in touch with me on the aforementioned
links above!