Balázs Kocsár is a Hungarian orchestral and operatic conductor."Budapest Concert and Opera Report: March 29 - April 8"
''Musical Criticism''. He was born in 1963 in

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

. His father

Miklós Kocsár Miklós Kocsár (21 December 1933 – 29 August 2019) was a Hungarian composer. He was born in Debrecen, Hungary, (son of László Kocsár and Erzsébet Borsy) and studied composition at the Academy of Music in Budapest with Ferenc Farkas, gra ...

is a composer awarded the

Kossuth Prize The Kossuth Prize ( hu, Kossuth-díj) is a state-sponsored award in Hungary, named after the Hungarian politician and revolutionist Lajos Kossuth. The Prize was established in 1948 (on occasion of the centenary of the March 15th revolution, the d ...

. He studied composition at Béla Bartók Vocational School of Music (Bartók Béla Zeneművészeti Szakközépiskola). Then he entered the prestigious

Franz Liszt Academy of Music The Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music ( hu, Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Egyetem, often abbreviated as ''Zeneakadémia'', "Liszt Academy") is a music university and a concert hall in Budapest, Hungary, founded on November 14, 1875. It is home to the ...

to study choir conducting under István Párkai which was followed by studies in orchestral conducting under the guidance of

Ervin Lukács Ervin may refer to: *Ervin (given name) *Ervin (surname) *Ervin Township, Howard County, Indiana, one of eleven townships in Howard County, Indiana, USA See also * Justice Ervin (disambiguation) * Earvin * Ervine * Erving (disambiguation) * Erwan ...

. He graduated with distinction in 1991. His studies were continued at

Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien The University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (german: link=no, Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst Wien, abbreviated MDW) is an Austrian university located in Vienna, established in 1817. With a student body of over three thous ...

under Professor

Karl Österreicher Karl Österreicher (3 January 1923 – 11 March 1995) was an Austrian conductor and music teacher. Life Born in Rohrbach an der Gölsen, Lower Austria, Austrian studied clarinet as well as conducting with Hans Swarowsky, later also with Alfr ...

. He also participated in master classes led by

Helmuth Rilling Helmuth Rilling (born 29 May 1933) is a German choral conductor and an academic teacher. He is the founder of the Gächinger Kantorei (1954), the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart (1965), the Oregon Bach Festival (1970), the Internationale Bachakademi ...

Jorma Panula Jorma Juhani Panula (born 10 August 1930) is a Finnish conductor, composer, and teacher of conducting. He has mentored many Finnish conductors, such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Mikko Franck, Sakari Oramo, Jukka-Pekka Saraste, Osmo Vänskä and Klaus M ...

Moshe Atzmon Moshe Atzmon ( he, משה עצמון, born 30 July 1931) is an Israeli conductor. He was born Móse Grószberger in Budapest, and at the age of thirteen he emigrated with his family to Tel Aviv, Israel. He started his musical career on the horn ...

and

Péter Eötvös Péter Eötvös ( hu, Eötvös Péter, ; born 2 January 1944) is a Hungarian composer, conductor and teacher. Eötvös was born in Székelyudvarhely, Transylvania, then part of Hungary, now Romania. He studied composition in Budapest and Colog ...

Biography

Balázs Kocsár has conducted at a number of operas at concert halls over the world including Italy, Germany, France, Australia. Among others he performed with musicians like

Diana Damrau Diana Damrau (; born 31 May 1971) is a German soprano who achieved international fame for her performances, primarily in opera, but also in concert and lieder. She has been successful in coloratura soprano roles since her early career, and gradu ...

Elena Garanca Elena may refer to: People * Elena (given name), including a list of people and characters with this name * Joan Ignasi Elena (born 1968), Catalan politician * Francine Elena (born 1986), British poet Geography * Elena (town), a town in Velik ...

Roberto Alagna Roberto Alagna (; born 7 June 1963) is a French operatic tenor. He obtained French citizenship in 1981, while also retaining his previous Italian citizenship. Early years Alagna was born in Clichy-sous-Bois, outside the city of Paris, in 1963 t ...

and

Jonas Kaufman Jonas Kaufmann (born 10 July 1969) is a German operatic tenor. He is best known for the versatility of his repertoire, performing a variety of opera roles in multiple languages in recital Tommasini, Anthony (21 February 2014)"A Tenor Finds Energy ...

. There are over 70 operas on his repertoire, staged in more than a thousand performances home or abroad, and gained 14 years of experience in musical management. Since 2010 he has been associate professor at the University of Pécs at the Faculty of Music and Visual Arts.

Major events in career

*1990-1993 Operatic conductor at the National Theatre in Szeged. *1991-1994 Assistant conductor to Ervin Lukács at the

Hungarian National Philharmonic The Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra ( hu, Nemzeti Filharmonikus Zenekar; formerly, the Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra, hu, Magyar Állami Hangversenyzenekar) is one of the most prestigious symphony orchestras in Hungary. Based in th ...

. *1992- He has been permanent conductor of the

Hungarian State Opera The Hungarian State Opera is the national opera company of Hungary. Located in Budapest, it is a busy institution, with over 200 operas each calendar year, on top of extensive educational programs, ballet, and musical theatre. The company employs ...

. *1993-1999 Musical director of Csokonai Theatre in Debrecen. *1999-2002 Principal conductor at

Oper Frankfurt The Oper Frankfurt (Frankfurt Opera) is a German opera company based in Frankfurt. Opera in Frankfurt am Main has a long tradition, with many world premieres such as Franz Shrek's '' Der ferne Klang'' in 1912, '' Fennimore und Gerda'' by Fred ...

. *2004-2012 Vocational Head at Kodály Philharmonic and Kodály Choir Debrecen and the Operatic Section of Csokonai Theatre Debrecen. *2010- Ever since 2010 he has been associate professor at

University of Pécs The University of Pécs (UP; Hungarian: ''Pécsi Tudományegyetem''; PTE) is an institution of higher education in Hungary. The modern university was established in 1912 but has its roots in the medieval university founded in Pécs in 1367 by ...

Faculty of Music and Visual Arts. *2011-2013 Musical director for the

Budapest Spring Festival Budapest Spring Festival ( Hungarian: ''Budapesti Tavaszi Fesztivál'') is the major arts festival of Budapest, Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bord ...

Prizes

*1989 He won the third prize as the best Hungarian participant at the 6th International Competition for Conductors organised by the Hungarian State Television. *1995 He was awarded first prize at the Franco Ferrara Competition for Condocturs organised by the Teatro Dell’Opera di Roma. *1999 Awarded the

Liszt Prize Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

References

Alfredo Arias nous endort à l'opéra"
''LE MONDE'', 13 March 2013

External links

*https://web.archive.org/web/20180406091855/http://www.balazskocsar.com/ Official website *http://info.bmc.hu/index.php?node=artists&table=ZENESZ&id=1022 {{DEFAULTSORT:Kocsar, Balazs 1963 births Living people Hungarian male conductors (music) Franz Liszt Academy of Music alumni 21st-century Hungarian conductors (music)