Imre Lakatoš

Imre Lakatoš was born in 1959 in Novi Sad. At the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, he studied violin in the class of Prof. Marina Jašvili, and graduated in the class of Prof. Dejan Mihailović. He participated in numerous violin competitions in the former Yugoslavia.
In 1980, he was hired as the first violinist at the Serbian National Theatre, and a little later he became the youngest concertmaster of the Vojvodina Philharmonic Orchestra, as well as the concertmaster of the Novi Sad Chamber Orchestra. From 2001 to 2015, he worked in the newly formed Vojvodina Symphony Orchestra as a concertmaster or deputy concertmaster. It was during this period that this orchestra made enviable progress and achieved extraordinary results, performing some of the most complex works of musical literature, such as Mozart’s Requiem, Rococo Variations by P. I. Tchaikovsky, Wagner’s overture “Tannhäuser”, and the suite “The Ring of the Nibelung” by the same author arranged by L. Mazel, as well as numerous concertos by J. Brahms, S. Prokofiev, S. Rachmaninov, F. Liszt, etc.
Famous conductors with whom Imre Lakatos collaborated are: Marco Parisotto, Manlio Benci, Jesús Medina, Misha Damov, Cyrus Sonderkim, Mladen Jagušt, Bojan Suđić, Berislav Skenderović and others.
Imre Lakatos, in addition to his very frequent concert activity throughout his professional career, has especially dedicated himself to higher education pedagogical work. From 1999 to 2003, he was engaged at the Academy of Arts, University of Novi Sad, first as a professional associate, then as an assistant professor. He became an associate professor in 2008 in the subject Knowledge of Orchestral Sections. He became a full professor in 2018.
He worked dedicatedly in the subjects Knowledge of Orchestral Sections and Methods of Teaching String Instruments and produced numerous young violin pedagogues, as well as excellent orchestral musicians. His work was evaluated by students with a high grade of 9.10.
He also devoted himself to the organization of music competitions, managing the organization of the International String Competition “Karolj Senasy” at the Academy of Arts. He was also the coordinator of all projects of the Symphony Orchestra of the Academy of Arts in the period from 1997 to 2013.
Imre Lakatoš was also active in the governing bodies of the Academy of Arts. Thus, from 2013 to 2015, he was the Deputy President of the Council of the Academy of Arts, and President of the Disciplinary Commission (2006 – 2009).
In addition to his engagement at the Academy of Arts, Imre Lakatoš also held master classes for violinists at the School for Musical Talents in Đuprija, as well as in Sremska Mitrovica.
He has cultivated his concert activity within the chamber genre or orchestral music throughout his career, and the 2016 concert entitled “Homage to Prof. Dejan Mihailović” in the hall of the Rectorate of the University of Novi Sad is particularly noteworthy.
In professional associations, he has also been involved in the governing bodies. As a member of the Association of Musical Societies, he was on its Board of Directors, while in the Association of Pop Artists of Vojvodina “Vojvodina Ton” he was on the Supervisory Board. In these associations, he organized meetings and projects aimed at improving music pedagogy for string players (the project of Contemporary Pedagogical Methodology in Performing Arts). In his artistic career, Imre Lakatos has performed over 650 public performances (operas, ballets, symphony concerts, large vocal-instrumental forms, chamber string orchestras, ad hoc chamber ensembles, multimedia works, quintets, quartets, trios, duets), which also include solo musical evenings. A high level of communication with students, professionalism, expertise and determined artistic and pedagogical work, social engagement and creative artistic nature are the characteristics of this conscientious and responsible university professor and artist.