TWO SWISS STARS COMPETING
Unusually, two Swiss musicians will be competing to raise their national flag at the 2018 Menuhin Competition. Here are their profiles....
There was no clear path for Anatol János Toth however, who has just turned 14. His mother is simply an amateur musician and his father doesn't play at all. He came to the
violin by himself at the age of three. "He wanted to play even earlier, but we had to put on the brakes," remembers Peter Toth, his father. Since then, his parents have left
him free to gauge his commitment, practising between three and five hours a day depending on how he feels. Far from having an exclusive interest, this talented musician, who
is fond of nature and hiking in forests, is also one of the best Swiss chess players of his generation.
It was his violin skills, however, which led him to make a name for himself as a young boy. He won 1st Prize with distinction at the Swiss Youth Music Competition four times
(solo and duet categories, accompanied by his sister) as well as another first place in the German competition. At the age of nine, with his family still living in Spain, he
was already the first violinist of an orchestra comprising the best young musicians in the Basque Country. He now aims to become a soloist and to perform with a symphonic
orchestra in Switzerland, where his youth has long been an obstacle.