He won the Hungarian Radio Beethoven Competition in 1970, and made his first concert tour of the United States in the following year.[3] He received the Liszt Prize in 1973, and the Kossuth Prize in 1978.[3]
American critic Harold C. Schonberg praised Kocsis' extraordinary technique and fine piano tone.[8] According to Grove Music Online, he had "an impressive technique, and his forthright, strongly rhythmic playing is nevertheless deeply felt and never mechanical. Kocsis has a natural affinity for Bach, but is also a fine exponent of contemporary music and has given the first performances of works by Kurtág."[3]
Conductor
Kocsis co-founded with Iván Fischer the Budapest Festival Orchestra in 1983, thus opening a new epoch in the history of Hungarian orchestral playing.[3] Kocsis played a key role in the direction and the development of the program policy of the orchestra from its founding, and from 1987 also appeared as a conductor at their concerts.
In addition to his compositions, Kocsis made piano transcriptions[9] of works by Wagner, Rachmaninov,[10] Bartók[4] and Debussy. Kocsis completed the last act of Schoenberg's opera Moses und Aron, with the permission of Schoenberg's heirs, in 2010.
Personal life
He was married to pianist Adrienne Hauser from 1986. They had two children, Mark and Rita. In 1997 he married pianist Erika Tóth. They had a son, Krisztian, also a pianist, and a daughter, Viktoria.[10]
Kocsis died following a long illness after undergoing heart surgery on 6 November 2016, aged 64, in his native Budapest.[11]
Selected works
Opera
Kopogtatások (1984–85)
A vacsora (1984–85)
Kiállítás (1984–85)
Orchestral and chamber music
Premiere, for string orchestra (1976)
Fészek (1975–76)
The last but one encounter (Utolsó előtti találkozás), for piano and harpsichord (1981)