János Négyesy

János Négyesy (September 13, 1938 – December 20, 2013) was a Hungarian violinist with a particular interest in contemporary music. He performed world premieres of numerous works, the first two books of the Freeman Etudes (etudes I–XVI and XVII–XXXII) by American composer John Cage among others. He was also the first European violinist who recorded the complete Violin and Piano Sonatas of Charles Ives (with pianist Cornelius Cardew). He is the author of a teaching and reference book on violin techniques, which was commissioned after he met Pierre Boulez at IRCAM in 1976. In 1979, he joined the faculty of the University of California, San Diego. He later became a student of Ferenc Gábriel at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music of Budapest, who introduced him to Tibor Varga, a former student of Gábriel before World War II. After receiving an invitation in 1965, Négyesy moved to Detmold and continued his studies with Varga. From 1970 to 1974 he served as concertmaster of the Radio Berlin Orchestra, which was led by Lorin Maazel at the time. In 1976 he was invited by French composer Pierre Boulez to IRCAM for a week of performances. he is an active teacher at UCSD. It was there in San Diego where he met Finnish violinist Päivikki Nykter, a former student of his, who became his wife in 1992. ) including Attila Bozay, Carlos Fariñas, Vinko Globokar, Georg Hajdu, Roger Reynolds, Robert Wittinger and Isang Yun.

Discography Dedications – Works for Two Violins – seven works for violin duo written expressly for János Négyesy and Päivikki Nykter. Aucourant Records, 2000. Solo Violin Recital – works by five contemporary women composers. Aucourant Records, 2006.