Born in 1965 into the legendary family of Romani violinists descended from János Bihari, ‘King of Gypsy Violinists’, Lakatos was introduced to music as a child and at the age of nine he made his public debut as first violin in a Romani band. His musicianship evolved not only within his own family but also at the Béla Bartók Conservatory of Budapest, where he won the first prize for classical violin in 1984. Between 1986 and 1996, he and his ensemble were the house band at a Brussels restaurant, where he attracted the attention of Sir Yehudi Menuhin, passing in search of a meal after performing at the nearby Bozar concert hall. At the end of the set, Menuhin asked him to perform a Liszt piece from the score, and heard it played in a very authentic but very different style from the habitual classical interpretation, and was astonished to hear that the Lakatos family, who taught the young Liszt, had preserved the tradition. He therefore promoted Lakatos as a historically informed performer adding a valuable new insight into the style which inspired Liszt, Brahms and their musical descent.

In March 2004, Lakatos appeared to great acclaim with the London Symphony Orchestra in the orchestra’s ‘Genius of the Violin’ festival alongside Maxim Vengerov.

Roby Lakatos has released five albums for avanticlassic to date: Prokofiev project with Christian Poltéra and Martha Argerich; Fire Dance; Klezmer Karma with the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, Yiddish singer Myriam Fuks and accordionist Aldo Granato and; Roby Lakatos with Musical Friends with Stéphane Grappelli, Vadim Repin, Randy Brecker, Tony Lakatos - his brother and established jazz musician in his own right, Marc Fosset and the Vieuxtemps Quartet. La Passion live at Sydney Opera House.