Who am I really?
Confessions of a bodybuilder pianist.
Zsolt Pataki
My story
My name is Zsolt Pataki, I was born in Hungary and currently live in Germany. Music first became a part of my life when I was 10 years old, and I started studying piano at the Plank László Music School at 11. At first, I was fascinated by the world of synthesizers, and later I became familiar with the solo piano and bar piano genres.
At the age of 12 I was able to perform in front of an audience during my school exams, and two years later I performed at an open-air festival in Germany with the school band. I started writing my own songs and music when I was 17. At first just for myself, then I joined a local band (Free Dance), where I composed most of the music.
We had a successful four years with the band. Our album was released in 2001 and we played many concerts not only in Hungary but also in Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. We performed on television, gave radio interviews and in the meantime I also played solo in a restaurant on Fridays.
By the age of 21, I was already writing music and lyrics for other performers, including well-known artists. Yet I felt like I was still finding my way musically. I became increasingly interested in the genre of barzón, and I trained myself in this field in a self-taught manner. Within a few months, I became the regular pianist at the elegant café of the Vörösmarty Theater in Székesfehérvár, where I performed live 3-4 times a week.
In 2013, I moved to Austria, where music temporarily took a backseat. This hiatus lasted until 2017, when I discovered the online concert videos “Piano Haven” and “Whisperings,” in which renowned new age pianists played their own works, accompanied by personal stories. This atmosphere deeply touched me and inspired me again.
I wrote my first solo piano piece in 2017, which was surprisingly well-received. That was when I first felt like I had truly found my own musical world: just me and the piano. Through the melodies, I was able to convey the feelings and stories that were going on inside me.
Most of my piano works tell the story of different periods in my life. Since then, I have composed several of my own pieces, which have reached an increasingly wide international audience. In 2018, I moved to the island of Rügen in Germany, where the natural environment provided further inspiration for my composition.
My first solo piano album*, which contains 14 of my own compositions, was released on March 21, 2024. Since then, I have released a full-length album and six singles, which are available on the most popular streaming platforms worldwide.
Zsolt Pataki
How do I do it?
I have been asked several times how I am able to compose such piano pieces? Moreover, it is not done in the classical traditional way, when melodies are written down on paper in the form of musical notes and a given composition is recorded. When I compose, my finished piano works are recorded (saved) exclusively in my head.
So far, about 50 pieces. There are no sketches or scores made for them. And here, back to the original question, how do I do this? My honest answer is that I have no idea. But to elaborate on the answer, I have a certain reflection on this that I would like to share with you.
Of course, almost every single one of my works is connected to some stage of my life and some emotional state. So I could say that I draw inspiration from these. Which may or may not be partly true, but I still think and feel that I am not actually composing these piano pieces. In other words, I would rather put it this way: while composing, these special, unique melodies do not come from me. I know that at this point my theory is starting to get spiritual.
But it is possible that at this time some kind of "mediating" channel or energy opens up, which transmits the melodies through me, my fingers and brain are just a kind of playback and recording device. This is also interesting and thought-provoking because I have never studied composition and never had a piano teacher and, for example, when I think back to a particular piece of mine that I composed six months or a year ago, I cannot say how I did it.
I couldn't recall exactly what was going on inside me in those moments and how the complete piece of music was finally born. Because when I compose music, I'm in a different kind of state. It doesn't work like I decide to sit down at the piano and compose a piece.
Sometimes there is no inspiration at all for half a year and no new piece is created. You need that inexplicable, extra energy, channel or I don't know what to call it, which only comes sometimes, but when it happens, it can work wonders.
Of course, it's also possible that it's not. Like I said, this is just my speculation. Maybe it's all just a game of the brain. Pure emotions, chemistry and biology? Although I find the latter harder to believe. So the point is that I don't know how it works, it just happens...
