Biography
“An exceptional violinist, who has perfect technique, beautiful large tone, real musical finesse and maturity as well as noble personality,” wrote legendary Russian violinist Igor Oistrakh of his colleague, Antal Zalai, who is fifty years of his junior, and who is unique among his fellow violinists with his characteristic tone, mature musical phrasing and elegant virtuosity.
The foundation of his organically growing popularity is his constantly updated videography, in which he performs pieces of the violin repertoire requiring the utmost technical mastery and musicianship. The collection on his YouTube channel with several million views includes Paganini’s 24 Caprices, which have proved to be a grandiose success shared by several thousand viewers, and led to a number of concert engagements. The audio files of the videos – together with his previous CD recordings – are available on all of the major on-line music stores.
His most recent release is the complete Sonatas & Partitas for Solo Violin, BWV 1001-1006 by J.S. Bach.
Recently, he performed as soloist of the Nürnberg Staatsphilharmonie and the Brandenburger Symphoniker in Germany; the Casco Phil in Belgium, gave a Paganini recital at the LongLake Festival in Lugano, performed in Montreal with the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, and appeared on stage in Mexico, Brazil, Kuwait, Russia, Belgium, Slovenia, and Hungary. During this period, Zalai several times performed two concertos in one concert.
Earlier, he had performed as soloist with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France, the Romanian National Radio Orchestra, the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Lithuanian National Symphony Orchestra, the Zagreb Soloists, the Irish Chamber Orchestra, and the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. In Vienna, he debuted in the Wiener Symphoniker’s “Frühling in Wien” gala concert, conducted by Fabio Luisi. The event, held in the Golden Hall of the Musikverein, was broadcast live on television by ORF and 3SAT.
