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The Romanian-Hungarian pianist and music pedagogue, Ilona [Ilus] Jánky Práda, was born to a Hungarian family in Transylvania, Romania. As a child of 6. she began playing the piano at home, but it was soon apparent that she had grown out of her little town Brad, so at 11 she went to Transylvania's cultural capital, Cluj (Hungarian name Kolozsvir, German name Klausenburg), to continue her education and begin playing the piano, which had already shown itself to be her first love, much more seriously. This love grew into a passion and all that the word entails: dedication, patience, and inner beauty. In 1952, she was easily accepted to the conservatory in Cluj, and in 1957, she finished her studies with Elisa Ciolan, a representative of the French Cortot school.
But this is only the beginning of a long, tenacious life's work, which was built around her position at the conservatory as a piano pedagogue, accompanist, and musical partner. Ilona Jánky Práda's sensitivity, musicality, and precision in collaboration with other musicians made her more and more in demand as a chamber musician. In 1961, her career was defined in a very positive way when she participated in the international "George Enescu" competition with good results. This opened the door for a solo career. Unfortunately, the difficult conditions that reigned in her country did not allow for the more extensive international career that she deserved. Through the years she became one of the most well known and respected teachers in her country, and was reputed to be able to solve any problems that come up during a learning process. Her primary characteristic was a wonderful piano tone, which was soft and full, with deep substance. She was known for the ability to transplant that tone to her students, while allowing them to keep their individual timbres. Her interest for new music grew with the years through her work with composer colleagues who in turn were inspired by her playing. In spite of a brain hemorrhage in 1999 that paralyzed her for a year. In her late years, she was in good health, active, and planned new musical projects. Among other things, she recorded a CD together with her daughter, the flautist Kinga Práda (Nosag Records, 2003), and planned a recording with works by W.A. Mozart. |
