An Eternal Experience

The sixth season of Virtuosos, a unique international classical music talent show of Hungarian origin, concluded this past December. For the first time, it was named ‘Virtuosos V4+’, looking not just for a young Hungarian talent, but also from the other countries of the Visegrád Four (Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic) and Serbia. The Hungarian winner was 14-year-old pianist Ildikó Rozsonits.

“I have always loved competing, I have won twelve international competitions so far, however, for me, ranking is not the most important thing, rather, these competitions mean that I can test my knowledge constantly and I can see how my peers of the same age are progressing. I can perform in front of renowned artists, who then provide me with useful advice in master classes on which I can build further,” the young pianist tells Diplomacy&Trade.
She adds that she is very grateful to the staff of the Virtuosos contest as they helped her through the initial difficulties (interviews, conversations, etc.). “In this show, I got used to what it is like to take part in a great television production, I could look behind the scenes, I got used to the cameras, the awesome pace and the long waits. The supportive jury of outstanding artists and the continued support of the professional presenters also evoked skills from me that I had not even known about before.”

Online preparations
Ildikó is a student at the School for Exceptional Young Talents at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest. She says it is quite obvious that the support of the Academy of Music helped her 100 percent in her preparation for the TV talent show. “The role of my teacher, Gábor Eckhardt, with whom we worked all summer, is especially noteworthy. I learned with his help all the pieces I played, and my performance praises his excellent knowledge, taste and rigor. Of course, it greatly hindered in the preparation that all this happened online, via the Internet, because we could not meet in person due to the epidemic. Nevertheless, the lessons went great. It was fortunate that, despite the epidemic, I was invited – and I was actually able to travel – to Brussels for a television recording before the selection contest for the Hungarian Virtuosos. That proved to be a great rehearsal.”

Embracing talents
As for the Virtuosos contest, the young talent considers it to be “a wonderful thought, a competition, a show that plays an incredibly big role in promoting classical music. With the support of a great jury, this show focuses on discovering and embracing talent rather than on being a competition. I have enjoyed performing all along, forgetting that there’s actually a competition going on here. The international field was a wonderful surprise with its diversity and amazing talents with incredible abilities. I didn’t look at these kids as rivals, I made a lot of friends, we were all happy to be here and perform.”
Judging the performance of the contestants was the task of celebrities and music professionals, headed by the world-renowned tenor, Plácido Domingo. Ildikó stresses that the jury made a very positive impression on her, as she always received constructive suggestions and encouragement from them. “Sometimes I didn't even want to believe that they were talking about me. It was previously unthinkable for me to meet and perform with Plácido Domingo, and hearing words of appreciation from him was unforgettable and a great way forward for my future career. Obviously it will remain an eternal experience, I will talk about it my whole life.”

A multitalented teenager
Winning such a prestigious competition not only means great recognition, but – as it is a television show – made Ildikó Rozsonits well-known to the public. “Of course, the world around me suddenly changed a lot, I became much better known in social media and very popular among my schoolmates and acquaintances. I get accolades and invitations from quite unexpected places. I hope I can meet these expectations and this will continue to be so in the future,” she says
Her main objective is to be a pianist, so she continues her studies at the Academy of Music. “Also, if my time and opportunities allow, I also want to learn composition so that I can write soundtracks, for example. Since I also really like to draw, I’m also thinking about some kind of fine art career. In addition to all this, of course, I do not neglect my high school studies either, as I think that in order to achieve all this, wide general knowledge is also required,” she concludes.