Hungarian violinist Kristóf Baráti is recognised increasingly across the globe as a musician of extraordinary quality with a vast expressive range and impeccable technique. Applauded repeatedly for the poetry and eloquence that he brings to his playing, he has been described as “a true tonal aesthete of the highest order”.
In recent seasons, Baráti has performed at the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, at London’s Royal Festival Hall with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and in 2019 he was the featured soloist in the opening concert of the the Verbier Festival. Baráti has played with orchestras such as Zurich Tonhalle, Oslo Philharmonic, Orchestre National de France, Israel Philharmonic, ORF Vienna Radio Symphony, Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal, Camerata Salzburg, Russian National Orchestra, BBC Scottish Symphony, BBC Philharmonic, Sao Paolo Symphony and Hague Philharmonic orchestras. He performs regularly with Gergiev and the Mariinsky Orchestra around the world including the US and China. Many of his appearances have been recorded by medici.tv, including concerts performed in Verbier and the integral of Bartók’s works for solo violin and orchestra performed at a single concert with the Pannon Philharmonic.
A regular recital and chamber music player, Baráti has performed with partners such as Mischa Maisky, Yuri Bashmet, Enrico Pace, Jean-Efflam Bavouzet, Zoltán Kocsis and Kim Kashkashian amongst others. He performs every year at the White Nights Festival and in 2019 made his debut at the Seattle Chamber Music and Aspen Festivals. In 2016 he made a sensational debut at the Verbier Festival when he performed the complete solo Sonatas and Partitas of Bach and has since been back every year.
Baráti has an extensive discography which includes the five Mozart concerti, the complete Beethoven and Brahms sonatas with Klára Würtz, and Ysaÿe solo sonatas for Brilliant Classics, and Bach Sonatas and Partitas on the Berlin Classics and Deutsche Grammophon labels. Of his disc of encores ‘The Soul of Lady Harmsworth’ recorded in 2016, Gramophone magazine said “for those who like to hear the violin played at its sweet and acrobatic best, then Baráti is out of the top drawer.” His latest CD released in 2023 by Hungaroton features Bartók’s 44 Duos for Two Violins performed with his wife, Karolina Kondorosi.
In recent years Baráti has been more and more active also as a conductor. In this capacity he appears frequently with different Hungarian and foreign orchestras. One of the most exciting projects of his 23/24 season will be his concert with Concerto Budapest featuring Mikhail Pletnov as soloist.
Having spent much of his childhood in Venezuela where he played as soloist with many of the country’s leading orchestras, Baráti returned to Budapest to study at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music and was later mentored by Eduard Wulfson, himself a student of Milstein and Menuhin. Still resident in Budapest, Baráti performs regularly across Hungary and together with István Várdai, he is Artistic Director of the Kaposvár International Chamber Music Festival and Head of the Violin Department of the Franz Liszt Music Academy. Baráti plays the 1703 “Lady Harmsworth” Stradivarius, by kind arrangement with the Stradivarius Society of Chicago.
2023/24 season. Not to be altered without permission.