Ibolya Kovacs recently served as the adjudicator for the National Piano Playing Auditions sponsored by the National Guild of Piano Teachers for the students from the Piano Studio of Betty Jordan.
Kovacs began music classes in the first grade in her native Hungary where she graduated from the Franz Liszt Conservatory of Music. She received her dual degrees in classical piano and music theory under the distinguished professors Zita Szalay, Jozsef Gabor, Marianna Spiegel and Miklos Szabo.
From there Ms. Kovacs emigrated to the United States and settled in Los Angeles, California, where she continued her studies in piano performance with her mentor, Judit Neszleny, a highly esteemed Hungarian concert pianist.
Upon her relocation to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, Kovacs spearheaded the Classical Piano Academy alongside Alejandro Guzman in 2004. Dedicated to teaching her students the European classical piano performance, in 2017, Kovacs was inducted into the Piano Guild USA Hall of Fame and in 2020 into the Who’s Who in America and Marquis Who’s Who Top Artists.
Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, Kovacs judged three of Jordan’s piano students, Giorgio Chen, Olivia Chen, and Ryan Xu using the online platforms Zoom and Face Time.
Jordan’s high school diploma music candidate, Gigi Cheng, recorded her entire two-hour program and submitted it through URL links.
“There students were very fortunate to have had Ms. Kovacs as a most recognized and distinguished judge for various piano competitions,” said Jordan.
