Anna C.

Hi, my name is Anna. As an orphan, I grew up in Hungary in a foster home. At a very young age I was already exposed to music. It kind of blew me away. I didn't know how something could be so beautiful, and it was like a miracle for me. Then and there, I knew that something special was waiting for me ahead. When I was 3, I didn't talk for a long time, but I did do one thing: sing. At that point my life has totally changed. I began my long journey. My foster parents got me into a music school, called Janos Patzay Music School. I knew immediately what I wanted to be. I built my whole life on music. It always filled up a very special place in my heart, it still does, and it always will. I started to learn the violin when I was 5 years old. Being in a music environment always gave me strength, made me feel safe, and made me stronger as a person. I decided to learn more, and to grow, I must never give up on my dreams. After elementary school, in 1998, I went to Bela Bartok Music High School, and graduated in 2002. I continued studying music at the University of Miskolc Bela Bartok Institute of Music trough 2. Those four years were some of the best years of my life. In college, I changed my major to viola instead of violin. I am never going to forget the day of my diploma concert (April 27,2008, Sunday). It was wonderful. All the hard work and studying got me here to this point. I had no family being there for me all these years, nothing really, only God and music. Knowing the fact what I wanted kept me going in the hard times. In 2003, I met with a pastor from the United States who were on a mission trip in Hungary, in the orphanage I lived. Nothing can describe it, not even words what we had. I felt like I always knew her. I used to say I was born in a wrong place in a wrong time. After my diploma concert she and her husband adopted me. Today I am able to say that I have a family, a real family with true love. So, I came here to study English (ESL) at the University of Minnesota for a year and a half. Not having time for me to practice and not have music around me for a little over than a year, it made me really sad. I was depressed, and I thought I am going to get crazy. Music was totally cut out from my life. In 2009, I finally had my music back. I was enrolled in Crown College for 2 years. I attended the school's chamber orchestra and quartet, and I also attended other classes as well ( English, drawing, painting, and piano). I have been in different chamber groups through all of my schools (duet, trio, quartet, symphony orchestra, chamber orchestra). I also studied how to teach violin ( teaching techniques) for four years in college. I observed teaching methods at the Beni Egressy Music School once every week. In my fourth year of college, I was also teaching little ones, and after my diploma concert I also had to do a diploma teaching.