ROMAN PATKOLÓ
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Double Bassist
Season 2010-11
Biography
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Personal Direction: R. DOUGLAS SHELDON
Columbia Artists Management LLC
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tel (212) 841-9512
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www.cami.com
3/3/2011
“Roman Patkoló is both, a true virtuoso and a genuine musician," said Maestro
Previn as he personally chose him as the winner of the prestigious Glenn Gould
International Protégé Prize in Music 2005. In addition, Maestro Previn invited Roman to
perform at a gala concert at the George Weston Recital Hall in Toronto on September 25,
2005, Glenn Gould's birthday. The event was broadcast live on CBC Radio.
A fast-rising star on the international stage, Roman Patkoló was born in 1982. He
began studying double bass at the age of 13, and was soon recognized as a musician of
exceptional talent. In 1997, he was awarded the First Prize at the Slovak National
Competition for Double Bass. Two years later, Mr. Patkoló became the winner of the
International Society of Bassists Competition in Iowa.
Roman Patkoló studied at the Academy of Music in Munich under Professor
Klaus Trumpf. He is also a recipient of the prestigious Prize of the German Academic
Exchange Service (DAAD). In 2000, Roman Patkoló was awarded the first prize at the J.
M. Sperger International Music Competition, the world’s most prestigious double bass
competition, where he was also honored with five Special Prizes.
Mr. Patkoló has performed internationally as a soloist with esteemed orchestras
such as Russian Camerata of Moscow, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Württemberg
Chamber Orchestra Heilbronn, St. Petersburg Theater Orchestra, Northwestdeutsche
Philharmonie, the Jeunesses Musicales World Orchestra, the Deutsches Symphonie
Orchester Berlin and Boston Symphony Orchestra. In 2000, he was invited to a threeweek USA tour as solo double bassist of the Philharmonie of the Nations under Justus
Frantz. He has participated in Musical Olympus, Lucerne, Schleswig Holstein, Rheingau
and other international festivals, and was featured in television shows by ARTE,
Bayerische Rundfunk, Hrvatska radiotelevizija, and ZDF.
Mr. Patkolo’s talent has received high acclaim from musical luminaries such as
Krzysztof Penderecki, Sir André Previn, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Daniel Barenboim and
Zubin Mehta. A scholar of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation since 1999, Patkoló plays
a fine vintage double bass by Niccolo Gagliano that was acquired for him by the
Foundation. The Circle of Friends of the Anne-Sophie Mutter Foundation is extending
the limited original repertoire for double bass by commissioning music to prominent
contemporary composers, such as Sir André Previn, Wolfgang Rihm, Krzysztof
Penderecki, and others. The world premiere of Sir André Previn’s Double Concerto for
Violin, Double Bass and Orchestra took place in Boston on April 19, 2007 with AnneSophie Mutter, Roman Patkoló and the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction
of the composer himself, and again for the Europe premiere in 2008 with the London
Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Patkolo was recognized by German President Johannes Rau and received two
European Culture Prizes as an Outstanding Soloist and Leader of Internationallyrenowned virtuoso Bass Quartet Bassiona Amorosa. In 2003, he won second prize at the
International Music Competition of the ARD.
Since receiving the Fürstenberg Classics prize in 2005, Roman Patkolo lives in
Switzerland and is a co-principal of the Zürich Opera House Orchestra. In 2006, he
became the City of Toronto’s Glenn Gould Protégé under the recommendation of Sir
André Previn. He has held a professorship at the Munich Academy of Music from 20072009, and currently is a professor Musik Akademie Basel in Switzerland.