DOMINKÓ SALLAI, Csilla (HUN)

Csilla Dominkó Sallai (1970) began her musical studies at the age of seven at the Tóth Aladár Music School in Budapest, Hungary, as a student of Lajos Várhegyi and Vera Némethné Kazár. She continued her education at the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome, where her teacher was Giorgio Ravenna. She graduated at the Béla Bartók Secondary School of Music in Budapest in 1989 as a student of Kálmán Záborszky. Playing chamber music, chamber orchestra and symphony orchestra played an important role in her life in these years.

She obtained her degree with distinction in 1993 at the Liszt Academy of Music under the professional guidance of Márta Mező. She has played in several orchestras and toured around the world. She is a founding member of the Erkel Ferenc Chamber Orchestra; she has performed as a cellist with the Telemann Orchestra of Miskolc and with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra in Belgium, Spain, Austria, France and Italy. She has performed as a solo artist in Rome, Sicily and Berlin. She mastered all the main genres of chamber music: duos (violin-cello, two cellos, cello-guitar), string trio, string quartet, sonatas, piano trios, piano quintets and octets. She performs as a member of the Híd Art Community, combining music and other arts, such as literature or fine arts. She also performs at the Dominconcerts.

Music pedagogy has played an important role in her life, as she has been a teacher of cello, chamber music and orchestra at the Tóth Aladár Music School in Budapest for 30 years, and has also been teaching at the Kroó György Music School in Budapest for 12 years. She pays special attention to the differentiated development of young students and to leading talented students to pursue artistic career. Many of her former students are part of music life both in Hungary and abroad. Her students have won prizes at national and international competitions and have been admitted scoring maximum points in music high schools.

She is one of the founding teachers of the Crescendo Summer Institute, having attended the two-week event since 2004. Based on her previous experiences she has been teaching cello and chamber music as head of the youth section. It is great pleasure for her to be able to serve her students not only in the musician field, but also being able to talk about the big issues of life on a spiritual level, in the dimensions of the Christian faith and culture.

She lives in a happy family with her husband, dr. István Dominkó and three children.