Concertmaster

Lynn and Charles Steinmetz – Concertmaster Chair

Hungarian-born Sir Tamas Kocsis began his violin studies at the age of five. He received his training at the Liszt Academy with Denes Kovacs before coming over to the United States in 1989, where he studied on a full scholarship with Josef Gingold at Indiana University. He later attended The Juilliard School, where he worked with Dorothy DeLay. Tamas was also invited to participate in the 1994 and 1995 Aspen Music Festival.

In 1994, Tamas won the European Council’s Award and the Artists’ International Auditions in NYC prior to his appointment as Concertmaster of the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in 1995. During his three years in Texas, he was on the faculty at the School of Music at Texas Christian University. In 1998, he became Concertmaster of the Savannah Symphony Orchestra, where he remained until the orchestra unfortunately folded in 2005. Tamas also spent the summers of 1996-2000 as Concertmaster of the Breckenridge Music Institute at the Breckenridge Music Festival; since 2001, he has been the Concertmaster of the Crested Butte Music Festival in Colorado. He has made recordings of the complete violin sonatas and piano quartets of Brahms under the EPR label.

Sir Kocsis was recently honored with a Knighthood in Budapest. He is now a member of the Ancient Order of Knights, “The Military and Hospitaller Order of Saint Lazarus of Jerusalem.” He was accepted at the highest possible rank of Commander.