Curriculum Vitae

Curriculum Vitae


Borbála DOBOZY was born in Budapest. She began her university harpsichord studies with Zuzana Ruzicková in Bratislava then continued at the Prague Academy of music (also with her) where she earned her diploma with distinction. In the following years she studied historic performance practice at the Salzburg Mozarteum – again graduating with distinction – with Liselotte Brändle, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Johann Sonnleitner. Later she also studied with Sonnleitner for a year at the Zürich Academy of Music.

A major landmark in her career came in 1983 when she won a prize at the International Harpsichord Competition in Brugge, Belgium, to which she was invited back as a jury member in 2001. With her leadership the harpsichord faculty in Szeged department of the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music came into existence (1993).

She has held harpsichord courses on several occasions in Hungary, Norway, Germany, Austria, Belorussia, Slovenia and Serbia. She was long time a teacher at the annual early music course „Brillamment Baroque” in Thoiry (France).

She has given concerts in most countries of Europe as well as the United States and has made radio/TV recordings and CDs.

Borbála Dobozy’s artistic work focuses on the oeuvre of Johann Sebastian Bach: she has played almost all of his compositions for the harpsichord, including all the orchestral and chamber works. In 2010, her recording of the Goldberg Variations released in the Czech Republic earned high praise. The Czech music journal Hudební rozhledy wrote: „…Not only is the artist technically skilled, and thus able to play even the hardest variations with marvellous ease, but she also has a perfect feel for Bach’s music. Her thoughtful interpretation is based on the way she handles time, the tempo of each variation, and a detailed working out of articulation, which gives even more impetus to the pieces… It represents the highest standards of performance.”

Although Borbála Dobozy’s central focus in her activities as a musician is the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, her repertoire embraces the entire harpsichord literature, including contemporary works. Several Hungarian composers – György Arányi-Aschner, Árpád Balázs, Frigyes Hidas and Máté Hollós – have written pieces especially for her, and consequently many premieres are linked to her name.

Her album of works by Gottlieb Theophil Muffat (Componimenti musicali) won the renowned German Record Critics’ Prize Hamburg, in 1992.

She is a founding member of the Hungarian Bach Society (1992).

She has received the Liszt-Prize in the year 2011.

She is professor at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest, and head of the harpsichord class there.

She earned DLA doctoral degrees from Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in the year 2013. Her dissertation „Georg Anton Benda and his Harpsichord Sonatas” was published in book form in Hungarian and Czech (Magyar Kultúra Kiadó, 2014 and 2016).

Since 2019, she has been member of the Music Section of the Hungarian Academy of Arts.

Solo recordings: G. Th. Muffat: Componimenti musicali per il cembalo (Hungaroton, 1992), G. A. Benda: Sei sonate per il cembalo solo (Hungaroton Records, 1997), Chr. Schaffrath: 6 sonatas for harpsichord (Hungaroton Records, 2008), J. S. Bach: Goldberg Variations (Nibiru (CZ), 2010), J. S. Bach: Das Wohltemperierte Klavier I-II. (BMC Records, 2019, 2020), J. S. Bach: 12 and 6 Preludes, Inventions and Sinfonias (BMC Records, 2023).

Her most important chamber music recordings: Sounds from an Old House (Kvalbein, Dobozy; VNP Norway, 1993), N. A. Porpora: Six cantatas (Clapton, Pertorini, Dobozy; Hungaroton Records, 1998), V. V. Mašek: Concertino for four hands (A. Horváth, Dobozy; Hungaroton Records, 2000), J. S. Bach: Trio sonatas (Gyöngyössy, Hadady, Lakatos, Dobozy; BMC, 2001).