Ms. Ágnes Székely Schwartz was born into a musician and artist family in Budapest, Hungary. She is a concert violinist, violist, orchestra musician, music teacher, and competition judge. She has been teaching since 2000 in violin, viola, piano, the Kodály Method, and music theory. Her teaching career has taken her to South Tyrol, Italy, Germany, and, since 2005, California. She previously held faculty positions at COC, APU, and RCCD. Ms. Ágnes currently serves as an adjudicator for ASTA, MTAC, SYMF, the Newhall School District, and Cal State Fullerton.

As a performer, she specializes in early music, works by Hungarian composers, Gypsy-inspired repertoire, contemporary music, and free improvisation. Since the age of 11, she has performed in 25 countries, including most of Europe as well as Israel, China, and the United States.
A winner of numerous youth competitions and recipient of many awards, she came to the United States on a String Fellowship to the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado. She holds a Master of Music in Viola Performance from the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest and a Master of Music in Violin Performance from California State University, Northridge, where she won the 2009 Concerto Competition with Bartók’s Violin Concerto No. 2. She has presented solo recitals in the Los Angeles area since 2005 and has launched a concert series featuring all of Bach’s solo sonatas and partitas along with Mozart’s violin concertos.

Ms. Ágnes has held Concertmaster and Principal Viola positions in Italy, Norway, Iceland, Israel, and the United States. In Greater Los Angeles, she has served as Concertmaster of the Whittier Regional Symphony (formerly the Rio Hondo Symphony) since 2007, as well as with numerous college, church, opera, and musical theatre orchestras throughout Southern California.