Rolla was concertmaster of the Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra for over 50 years
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Violinist János Rolla has died at the age of 79. Born in 1944 in Kőtelk, he was a student of Mária Zipernovszky at the Bartók Conservatory from 1957 to 1962, and studied at the Liszt Academy of Music Budapest in the class of Dénes Kovács from 1962 and 1968.
He was a founding member of the Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra in 1963, holding the role of concertmaster for over 50 years, as well as artistic director from 1979 until his retirement. He also played in the Hungarian Radio and Television Symphony Orchestra between 1967 and 1974.
He made more than 200 recordings with the Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra, and performed with the ensemble and numerous festivals worldwide. On the 20th anniversary of the ensemble’s founding in 1983, Rolla and his fellow musicians received a memorial plaque commemorating the sale of a million recordings.
Rolla’s prizes included the title of Outstanding Artist in 1981, the Béla Bartók-Ditta Pásztory Prize in 1984, Kossuth award in 1985,the middle cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary in 1994, the middle cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary with a star in 2004, the Hazám award in 2011, and the Leo Weiner Award in 2015. In 1992 he received the French government’s Knight of the order of arts and letters award.
He joined the teaching staff at the Liszt Academy of Music Budapest in 2008 after receiving an honorary teaching title from the school in the previous year. From 2008 to 2011 he was head of the chamber music department.
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