Huge Success at a Percussion Competition in Canada

Levente Tóth, final-year student of the Faculty of Music of the University of Debrecen has achieved an outstanding result at an international online percussion competition. He has won the 21st Century Talents Percussion Competition, based in Ottawa.

The young talent has already been awarded in Italy, Moscow and Switzerland as member of the TanBorEn Trio, and has won several scholarships as a soloist. He regularly enters international competitions to compete with the best percussionists on the international stage, and is also highly successful in Hungarian contests.

According to István Szabó, teacher of the Faculty of Music, who prepared Levente for the competition, the young musician is highly focused and purposeful both when preparing for a competition and when completing a university task. In fact, in most cases the combination of the two helps him achieve success.

- This recent success of Levente is especially remarkable because the competition in Ottawa is highly prestigious. In online education students regularly record and submit their performances to meet their academic requirements, and they also enter competitions with these recordings. Levente has won many scholarships, he is a smart, agile and purposeful young man with an international reputation, who wants to build a career in this field, and therefore tries to be as successful as he can be - said Levente’s teacher.

Levente was born into an environment permeated by music: his mother was a teacher of singing, his grandfather was an actor, and his great grandfather played the piano and composed music in a jazz trio. As a child he would always beat the rhythm, leaving no doubt about which instrument he would play in the future. He considers his success in Ottawa especially outstanding due to the prestige of the competition.

- Competitions shape and improve me, and provide feedback on where I am in professional terms, and on how much I am able to focus. I can use this experience in my concerts. I feel excited when recording a performance, but it is also important to be excited before concerts, because it brings the best out of me and allows me to provide a vivid stage performance. I was able to achieve this in Ottawa, which was reflected by the decision of the jury. This accomplishment is another milestone in my life, as it was an overseas competition. What is more, I have been invited to the concert of winners, where I can hopefully give a live performance. Being there in person would make this success even more complete - said Levente Tóth to hirek.unideb.hu.

The young talent is a final-year student of the Faculty of Music, completing his classic percussionist MA programme. He is getting prepared for his diploma concert, but has also sent a recording to an Italian online competition, and will perform at an international competition with the TanBorEn Trio in the near future. A short while ago the trio gave a successful concert in Kecskemét, and they look forward to further concerts in Budapest at prestigious venues like the Eiffel-Műhelyház or the Várkert Bazár.

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