Back in July 2011, I decided to take a break from performing. I’d just done a couple of concerts as soloist in Rachmaninoff’s 3rd Piano Concerto – my favourite piece of all time, not to mention one of the biggest and hardest! Playing heavy stuff like that made me realise that I had a choice: I could either be a good pianist or a good father, but not both. Does anyone really have the time to practise full-time as well as devote themselves to family full-time?

Well, I knew what was more important in life (at least in my life), and so I chose to be there as my kids were growing up.

Slowly, this cycle of life is reaching its natural conclusion. The twins are now 18. Last month my daughter received a Choral Scholarship to study History at Queens College, Oxford. Tomorrow my son starts up an internship as a luthier (guitar maker) as part of the Franz Liszt Music Academy’s instrument-making division here in Budapest.

Two down, one to go! (I also have a 14-year-old daughter.)

Slowly, after nearly 8 years of silence from the stage, I look forward to returning again to professional music making in the not-so-distant future. For now, though, I’m just proud of what my kids are accomplishing, as they step out into the big, wide world as adults.