Serving as a bridge between Hungarian villages and people around the world, Zina Bozzay ("Boh-zah-ee") researches, teaches, performs, and arranges traditional Hungarian folk songs.

 

Born and raised in San Francisco as the daughter of a Hungarian immigrant and trained by master Hungarian folk singers in Hungary, including Éva Fábián, Gergely Agócs, and Andrea Navratil, Zina has performed at the Táncháztalálkozó, Hungarian Heritage House, National Theatre, and Hungarian Parliament in Budapest. Soloist at the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the Golden Festival in New York, and the Kárpátok 50th Anniversary Gala in Los Angeles, she is a frequently invited singer, teacher, and presenter for Hungarian diaspora events.  She regularly conducts research in the villages, learning about the lives and songs of the last living village singers in various parts of the Carpathian Basin and Moldavia.

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Zina founded the Hungarian Folk Singing Circle (Népdalkör) in 2010 to teach Hungarian folk songs in English-language classes, which now offers class series, lectures, workshops, coaching, and master classes in both English and Hungarian, with thousands of participants every year from dozens of countries. The weekly public classes are open to participants of all cultural, linguistic, and musical backgrounds. Coaching includes members of KITKA, Janam, Stellamara, Zhena Folk Chorus, Eszterlánc Hungarian Folk Ensemble, Tisza Ensemble, VOCO, and others.

 

In Hungary, Zina has taught at the Liszt Academy of Music, Hungarian Heritage House, Óbuda Folk Music School, Magyar Zene Háza, Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), the Fulbright Scholars, and many schools and universities in Budapest as well as Rákoczi Szövetség camps in Sátoraljaújhely. In the US, she has taught at Csipke Tábor (Michigan), Tisza Ensemble (Washington DC), Jalopy (New York), Dunava (Seattle), The Freight & Salvage, Ashkenaz, and The Kitka Institute (northern CA), Kárpátok Hungarian Folk Ensemble and Magtár Hungarian Cultural Alliance (Los Angeles), and many Hungarian Heritage Festivals. She has presented on her work at ICTMD Conferences in Türkiye and New Zealand, published on it through the Institute for Musicology in Budapest, and lectured at other universities such as Rutgers University in New Jersey and the University of Ljubljana Department of Musicology.

 

With her ensemble Vadalma, featuring violinist Matthew Szemela and cellist Misha Khalikulov, she creates innovative, intimate arrangements of these rich songs using both traditional and original accompaniment.  Vadalma performs at a wide variety of venues around the US and Europe, from small local venues to big festivals, sharing this music with new audiences.  Their debut album Music of Elderflowers was met with wide acclaim from master practitioners of the style, with CD release concerts in California, New York, Hungary, and Romania.  Vadalma frequently collaborates and includes special guests, such as Gergely Agócs, Andrea Navratil, Enyedi-Salamon Quartet, Pendely Énekegyüttes, István Berecz, Dűvő, and Helga Debreczeni-Kis.

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Zina has worked on several of Hungary’s successful nominations to UNESCO’s Register of Intangible Cultural Heritage over the past decade, served as Mentor to the musicians in the International Portfolio of the Hungarian Heritage House, translated scholarly publications on Hungarian folk music, and works on various projects related to international audiences and accessibility. Her work has been supported by the Csoóri Sándor Fund, Halmos Béla Fund, Hungarian National Cultural Fund, Alliance for California Traditional Arts, Zellerbach Family Foundation, Hewlett Foundation, Center for Cultural Innovation, SF Community Music Center, and the Creative Work Fund. 

 

Zina is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music with Honors, holds a Masters degree in Music Composition, and has the highest level of accreditation as an Advanced Hungarian Folk Singing Educator through the Hungarian government.

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