Zoltan Csikos

Zoltan Csikos was born in Serbia in 1987. He started playing cello at the age of 9 in the City of Novi Sad at the local Elementary Music School. After his basic studies, he finished the Music High School Isidor Bajić. Besides his regular music high school studies and activities, he was accepted into the preparatory class for gifted young students at the Academy of Music in Novi Sad.  After graduating from high school in the year of 2007, Zoltan started his academic studies at the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad in the class of Prof.  Imre Kalman. As a cello student, he has participated in numerous competitions and master classes and has won various awards in solo playing, as a member of a piano trio, string quartet and a chamber orchestra (1st prize in Cello on the Festival of Music Schools of Serbia, 2nd prize on the National Competition of Cello in Belgrade in 2003 and other prizes as a long-time member of a piano trio and a string quartet).

In 2010, he won the Music Academy’s Annual Concerto Competition and has been selected to play the Rococo Variations by P.I.Tchaikovsky with the Academy Orchestra in the Novi Sad Synagogue Concert Hall.

During his studies he attended master classes with Arto Noras, Louise Hopkins, Alexander Kniazev, Stanislav Apolin, Xenia Jankovic , Wendy Warner and David Starkweather, Alexander Kobrin and Sergiu Schwartz.

He finished his undergraduate studies in the year of 2012 with the highest grades given for the final cello recital exam. Zoltan also holds a completed Master of Music Degree from the Academy of Music in Novi Sad and an Artist Diploma Certificate from Columbus State University where he was a student of the world renowned cellist, Wendy Warner. Currently he is enrolled at the University of North Texas where he is pursuing his DMA in Cello Performance Degree as a teaching fellow and a student of Professor Nikola Ružević. He speaks Hungarian as his native language, he is fluent Serbian and English and intermediate German.