Ilona Vincze-Kraus

Ilona Vincze-Kraus was born in 1902 in Budapest

Ilona Kraus was born in 1902 in Budapest, then part of Austria-Hungary. Her parents were Isidore Eduard Krausz and Lina Karolina Krausz, née Lefkovitz.

She studied piano at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. Her teachers included the composer Béla Bartók and the violinist Jenő Hubay. In 1923 she won the Franz Liszt Prize.

She gave recitals across Europe, and from 1927 played in the Hungarian Trio with violinist Eliz Molnár and cellist László Vincze. She married Vincze in 1930. In 1936 she moved to Palestine with her husband and son, and the couple played with the Palestine Symphony Orchestra and the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra.

She taught at the Palestine Conservatory in Jerusalem. In 1945 she and her husband joined other musicians in founding a music academy in Tel Aviv. Her students included Arie Vardi, Naomi Shemer, Baruch Arnon, Dan Gottfried and Yoheved Kaplinsky.

In 1972 she became a professor at Tel Aviv University. She won the Herzl Prize in 1973 and later received diplomas from the Royal Academy in Budapest. She died in 1998.