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Legendary Hungarian violinist Roby Lakatos and his ensemble will perform in Armenia for the first time.

The exceptional concert is scheduled to be held at Yerevan’s Arno Babajanyan Concert Hall on July 19.

Labeled by the Daily Telegraph as "The king of the violinists", Roby Lakatos is not only a scorching virtuoso, but a musician of extraordinary stylistic versatility. He is a rare musician who defies definition. He is referred to as a Romani violinist or “devil’s fiddler”, a classical virtuoso, a jazz improviser, a composer and an arranger.

Roby has performed at the most prestigious venues of the World, including Carnegie Hall, Sydney Opera House, Barbican Centre and others, and has appeared at the biggest festivals in Europe, Asia and America.

Born in 1965 into the legendary family of Romani violinists descended from Janos Bihari, “King of Gypsy Violinists,” Roby Lakatos was introduced to music as a child and at age nine, he made his public debut as the first violin in a Romani band.

His musicianship evolved not only within his own family but also at the Béla Bartók Conservatory of Budapest, where he won the first prize for classical violin in 1984.

He has collaborated with Vadim Repin and Stéphane Grappelli, and his playing was greatly admired by Sir Yehudi Menuhin, who always made a point of visiting the club in Brussels to hear Lakatos. In March 2004, Lakatos appeared to great acclaim with the London Symphony Orchestra in the orchestra’s “Genius of the Violin” festival alongside Maxim Vengerov.

When Roby Lakatos mixes the so-called “classical music” with the magic of the Hungarian-Romani vitality, it reflects the deep tradition rooted in the cultural heritage of the Roma people and offers new, refreshing pleasures to the listener and music lover. And just as Liszt, Brahms and others used Hungarian music in their compositions, so now the public profits from the confrontation of these classics with the Romani roots.

His ensemble includes Laszlo Boni (violin), Laszlo Racz (cimbalom), Gabor Ladanyi (guitar), Robert Szakcsi Lakatos (piano) and Vilmos Ciskos (double bass).