Ilona Balint

Ilona Balint graduated with top marks in 1993 from the Conservatory “Liszt Ferenc” in Szeged under the guidance of Ágnes Nagy.

She later graduated from the Milan Conservatory and at the Accademia Stauffer in Cremona with Bruno Giuranna.

From 1992 to 1994 joined the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester led by Claudio Abbado, orchestra founded in 1986 to bring together young talents from Eastern Europe and from the iron curtain. From 1996 to 1999 she played at La Scala and took part at the masterclasses of Bobbio and Pavia with Danilo Rossi, principal viola of La Scala.

She continued her studies at Academia Chigiana in Siena with Jurj Bashmet and Kim Kashkashian. In 1999 she played with the London Symphony Orchestra.

Since 2000 she lives in Rome and is violist of the Accademia Nazionale Santa Cecilia Orchestra. From 2001 to 2013 she performed extensively in Italy and abroad with the Stradivari Sextet. In 2013 she began teaching viola to create the experimental section of violas of the Juniorchestra Kids. She is the mother of two kids, Danti and Marta.