News: Guildhall professorship for András Keller

The Guildhall School of Music and Drama today announced that András Keller has been appointed as professor of violin. He will begin teaching there in January 2016. This is the first UK appointment for the renowned violinist who served as head of the chamber music department at his alma mater, the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary, from 2012-2015.

András Keller commented: ‘I’m extremely pleased to join Guildhall, where I will do my best to build up a great violin class. In the past few years, I’ve met several exceptional young artists from Guildhall, and besides their great technical ability, I find all of them have great musical sense, commitment, interest, and understanding. So I said to myself, this could be “my school”! I can’t wait to pass on to them what I have learned from my great masters, Sándor Végh, György Kurtág and Ferenc Rados.’

András Keller has enjoyed a varied career as a soloist, concertmaster and chamber musician at the highest international level. His early studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music led to many collaborations with György Kurtág, whose works he has been premiering and performing worldwide since 1978. The recipient of the Premio Franco Abbiati, Liszt Prize, and Bartók-Pásztory Prize, he was named an Artist of Merit of Hungary and was nominated for a Royal Philharmonic Society Award. He founded the Keller String Quartet in 1987 and was also the founder and artistic director of the International Sándor Végh String Quartet Competition. In 2007, he was appointed artistic director and chief conductor of Concerto Budapest, formerly known as the Hungarian Symphony Orchestra. His recordings have been awarded the Caecilia Prix (BE), Deutsche Schallplattenpreis, Edison Award (NL), Grand Prix de l’Académie Charles Cros (FR), MIDEM Classical Award (FR), and Record Academy Award (JP).

Keller teaches annually at the Aix-en-Provence Festival and is a regular guest of Yale University’s Norfolk Chamber Music Festival and the International Musicians Seminar Prussia Cove. From 2012 to 2015 he was head of the Chamber Music Department at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music.

First published in the Amati Magazine, 2015.