Born in Hungary (1969) and a graduate of the Budapest Liszt Academy of Music, GERGELY ITTZÉS is one of the most proactive personalities of the flute scene. While being a researcher of his instrument and composer of many experimental flute works applying the most up-to-date flute techniques, especially polyphonic playing, he does not specialize in contemporary music only but tries to connect it with tradition.
His large repertoire includes all the important works written for his instrument and a great number of rarities from the past centuries and today. In addition to classical and modern music, several other styles have also influenced his musical idiom, like jazz, ethnic music, and free improvisation.
His large repertoire includes all the important works written for his instrument and a great number of rarities from the past centuries and today. In addition to classical and modern music, several other styles have also influenced his musical idiom, like jazz, ethnic music, and free improvisation.
Mr. Ittzés has given concerts and led master classes in most European countries, Brazil, Canada, China, Taiwan, South-Korea, Japan, and the United States, being invited here by the most prestigious institutions such as Juilliard, Manhattan School, Mannes, Eastman, Oberlin, Yale, NEC etc. He gave the first performance of Anthony Newman’s Flute Concerto at the Budapest Spring Festival, 2005, and many other new concertos, chamber works, and solos have been dedicated to him. He has been invited to perform at the world’s major flute festivals (Beijing, Brazília, Paris, New York, Manchester, Freiburg, Tokyo, and many others) and debuted at Carnegie Hall in 2014.
He is a founding member of the UMZE Chamber Ensemble and founded the TeTraVERSI flute quartet. He has worked together with Magdalena Kožena, Heinz Holliger, Carol Wincenc, Robert Dick, Péter Eötvös, Miklós Perényi, Zoltán Kocsis, Zoltán Rácz, the Amadinda Percussion Group, Barnabás Kelemen, Kristóf Baráti, István Várdai, and appeared as the soloist of the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Austrian-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra, Toronto Sinfonietta, Katowice Philharmony, Bach Works New York, Huntsville Symphony, Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra, and other ensembles. He played improvisatory music together with Markus Stockhausen, Emil Viklický, Don Thompson, Leni Stern, Lew Tabackin, Szilárd Mezei, etc. For ten years he used to be member and composer of the etno-jazzrock group Talizmán. He has created multidisciplinary performances with graphic artists Jenő Lévay.
He won many national and international competition prizes (including the Grand Prix of the 2nd Aleksander Tansman International Competition for Musical Personalities in Poland) and national distinctions such as the Franz Liszt Award and the Lajtha Award. In 1998 and 1999 he was supported by the Annie Fischer Grant offered for promising young soloists. From 2018 to 2021 he received a grant from the Hungarian Academy of Arts for his creative work. The German Lexikon der Flöte dedicates an article to his activity.
Mr. Ittzés has recorded more than twenty-five CDs, including Hungarian contemporary music, his own works and transcriptions, and lesser-known repertoire like Pierre-Max Dubois, Eugéne Walckiers, Boccherini, or the complete flute oeuvre of Sigfrid Karg-Elert, as well as improvised music. His recording project entitled “The Great Book of Flute Sonatas” includes all the significant flute sonatas of the music history (34 pieces on 7 CDs). The collection was nominated for the International Classical Music Award in 2019 as one of the three best collections of the year.
Mr. Ittzés has recorded more than twenty-five CDs, including Hungarian contemporary music, his own works and transcriptions, and lesser-known repertoire like Pierre-Max Dubois, Eugéne Walckiers, Boccherini, or the complete flute oeuvre of Sigfrid Karg-Elert, as well as improvised music. His recording project entitled “The Great Book of Flute Sonatas” includes all the significant flute sonatas of the music history (34 pieces on 7 CDs). The collection was nominated for the International Classical Music Award in 2019 as one of the three best collections of the year.
Mr. Ittzés has been flute professor at the Széchenyi University in Győr since 1995. In 2017 he spent one semester at the Boston University as a Fulbright guest professor. In 2019 August he joined the faculty of the new branch of The Juilliard School founded in Tianjin, China (tianjinjuilliard.edu.cn). As a devoted teacher he has been working and lecturing on his comprehensive flute methodology ‘Flautology’ for decades. The Hungarian version of the book was published in 2018.
Editor of various flute publications composed or transcribed by himself or others, Ittzés has worked with publishers like Akkord, Editio Musica Budapest, Universal, Schott, Billaudot, Falls House Press, Presser, and Kossack. His composition ‘Totem’ was commissioned by the National Flute Association for the Young Artist Competition held in Las Vegas, 2012. In the following year the edition of the piece won the solo category of the NFA Newly Published music contest. The Flute Expedition, his new series of 42 pieces introducing extended techniques going to be published by Schott in 2023.
Editor of various flute publications composed or transcribed by himself or others, Ittzés has worked with publishers like Akkord, Editio Musica Budapest, Universal, Schott, Billaudot, Falls House Press, Presser, and Kossack. His composition ‘Totem’ was commissioned by the National Flute Association for the Young Artist Competition held in Las Vegas, 2012. In the following year the edition of the piece won the solo category of the NFA Newly Published music contest. The Flute Expedition, his new series of 42 pieces introducing extended techniques going to be published by Schott in 2023.