ARTISJUS, LISZT AND ARTIST OF MERIT OF HUNGARY AWARD WINNING VIOLINIST, MEMBER OF THE HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF ARTS.
Katica comes from a classical music family. Her mother was a special schoolteacher but she played the piano very well. Her father Ferenc Illényi (1935-2007), played in the Hungarian State Opera House. As her first teacher, he decided to bring up all four of their children to become musicians. The four Illényi siblings Katica, Ferenc, Anikó and Csaba started to play instruments at the age of three, and hours of practice was a natural thing for them.. At the age of 14 she was admitted to the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest to the class of “special talents”.
IN 1991 SHE OBTAINED HER MASTERS DEGREE IN VIOLIN AT THE FRANZ LISZT ACADEMY OF MUSIC.
In 1991 she obtained her masters degree in violin at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. As a newly graduated violinist she felt that the boundaries of classical music were too tight her, she wanted to play with her whole being. This is when she decided, that besides playing the violin, she will also sing and dance. She started to attend phonation classes, and next to the violin, her voice became her second instrument. Beside all of that she also learned acting, and tap dancing. Very unusual from a violinist, but in her early years she played the main roles in plays and musicals in which of course the violin played a very important part. Meanwhile she started to get acquainted with the “lighter” genre of music such as jazz, swing and she searched for the style specialties in world music which she didn’t come across in classical music.
From 1996 to 2002, she was the singer and violinist of the Budapest Klezmer Band.
There was a turning point in her life, when she was invited to perform in solo in different television shows.
Katica began her solo career in 2002. Since then, she gives self organized concerts each year, always with a new repertoire, mixing classical pieces and jazz. On her concerts gems of classical music and movie soundtracks can be heard. Next to Csajkovszkij, Paganini, DvoÅ™ák, Gershwin, Morricone, Michel Legrand and John Williams Hungarian composers like Bartók, Kodály Zoltán, Liszt Ferenc, Weiner Leó pieces are played also. She is committed to high quality popular music, she gives jazz concerts regularly where she sings and tap-dances. Her performances prove that there is interoperability between the different genres of music and it builds a bridge between the different cultures.
Her positive personality, professional competence, work and reputation allows her to spread Hungarian composers music, classical music and sophisticated jazz music to broad social layers, and to lift the rank of Hungarian music culture internationally.
Besides playing the violin, she sings and plays the Theremin wonderfully.
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She owns many gold and platinum records.
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She is recognized internationally, millions of viewers from around the world visit her Youtube channel regularly.
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She was chosen to be one of the artists – besides Zoltán Kocsis, Andrea Rost, and Marta Sebestyén – to represent Hungarian culture wordwide.