József Eötvös (musician)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jozsef Eotvos (born 1962) is a classical guitarist, from Pécs, Hungary. Eotvos studied with Roland Zimmer and Franz Just at the Franz Liszt High School of Music in Weimar. He won several international competitions between 1985 and 1988. He has since toured extensively through Europe, including concerts in Austria, Bohemia, Germany, Greece, Lithuania, Romania, Sweden, and Slovakia. Eotvos is credited with the transcription and first ever recording of the Goldberg Variations in the original key, previously considered a most daunting cross-over from Bach's keyboard works. Not much earlier the piece had been recorded on two to four guitars in D major by Kurt Rodarmer.
Since the Goldbergs, Eotvos has recorded the Art of the Fugue for two eight-string guitars, in addition to transcribing many lute-works of Bach. The Goldbergs and Art of Fugue along with two volumes of Chopin's piano works and Brahms' Hungarian Dances, have helped to expand the repertoire of the classical guitar.
Eotvos has taught numerous master classes, and has often been a member of international juries at guitar competitions. He is the artistic director of the International Guitar Festival of Esztergom, Hungary and currently teaches at the Liszt Ferenc High School of Music in Budapest. He founded the guitar department there in 1992, as well as in his native Pécs. Jozsef Eotvos is also responsible for establishing guitar classes at university level in in Hungary in 1996. He is also an accomplished composer.