World's best double bass player is Romani

Double bassist Roman Patkoló (30) is originally from the town of Žilina, Slovakia. He is known worldwide as a musical magician, but in his native country few people are aware of him unless they are experts in his field. Now the Slovak news server vas.cas.sk has reported that last year, Patkoló won the Aida Stuck Award as the world's best double bass player.

Roman Patkoló is from a Romani family. Both his father and older brother are also musicians. "My father led us to music from our early years. We lived in Turkey for eight years when he was concert master for the Istanbul Opera. We also lived for a time in Iraq and Kuwait," the talented double bassist told the news server. At the age of six he began playing the violin. At 13 he heard a cousin play the double bass and was charmed by the instrument.

By the age of 18, Patkoló was playing as many as 90 concerts a year. At the age of 25 he was awarded the title of Professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. In addition to performing, he lectures at the university in Basel. The famous double bass player speaks six languages fluently and has lived in Switzerland for several years.

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