Gilbert Varga
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Gilbert Varga (born 1952, London) is a
British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...
-Hungarian conductor. He studied violin from the age of four with his father, Tibor Varga, a famous Hungarian violinist and conductor. After an accident brought an abrupt halt to a promising solo career Gilbert studied conducting under Franco Ferrara,
Sergiu Celibidache Sergiu Celibidache (; ; 13 August 1996) was a Romanian people, Romanian Conducting, conductor, composer, musical theorist, and teacher. Educated in his native Romania, and later in Paris and Berlin, Celibidache's career in music spanned over fi ...
and Charles Bruck. The earlier part of his conducting career concentrated on work with many
chamber orchestra Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...
s throughout Germany and France including extensive work with the Tibor Varga Chamber Orchestra. From 1980 to 1985 Gilbert Varga was Chief Conductor of the Hofer Symphoniker and between 1985 and 1990 Chief Conductor of the Philharmonia Hungarica in
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, with whom he toured throughout Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy. In 1990, his final year as Music Director, he conducted their debut tour to Hungary with
Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin (22 April 191612 March 1999), was an American-born British violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in Britain. He is widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century. ...
. Since that time, he has been invited to conduct several European ensembles including the
Munich Philharmonic The Munich Philharmonic () is a German symphony orchestra located in the city of Munich. It is one of Munich's four principal orchestras, along with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Radio Orchestra and the Bavarian State Orche ...
, the radio orchestras of Cologne and
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and the Gurzenich Orchestra. From 1991 to 1995 he was Permanent Guest Conductor of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra; from 1997 until 2000 he was Principal Guest Conductor of the
Malmö Symphony Orchestra The Malmö Symphony Orchestra () is a Swedish orchestra, based in Malmö. Since 2015, it has been resident at the Malmö Live Concert Hall. The orchestra has a complement of 94 musicians. History The orchestra was founded in 1925 with Walther ...
; and from 2001 to 2008 he was Principal Conductor of the Euskadi Symphony Orchestra (''Euskadiko Orkestra Sinfonikoa''). From 2013 to 2018 he was the principal conductor of the Taipei Symphony Orchestra in Taipei, Taiwan.


Recent years

In North America he also conducted
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, Kansas City Symphony, Naples Philharmonic and St Louis Symphony Orchestras, the
symphony orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * String instruments, such as the violin, viola, cello, ...
s of
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,
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and Indianapolis, Los Angeles and St Paul Chamber Orchestras. Varga appeared twice at Aspen Music Festival. In South America, Varga appeared at Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires in the summer of 1999, returning in May 2000 during a tour of South America with the Euskadi Symphony Orchestra. He has also made successful appearances with
Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra The is a Japanese symphony orchestra administratively based in Tokyo. The orchestra primarily performs concerts in Tokyo at the Suntory Hall, but also gives concerts at the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall and also performs in Yokohama at the Yokoha ...
and the Sydney Symphony. In Europe Varga has worked with most major symphony orchestras, including the
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra The Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (, BRSO) is a German radio orchestra. Based in Munich, Germany, it is one of the city's four orchestras. The BRSO is one of two full-size symphony orchestras operated under the auspices of Bayerischer Rundf ...
, Rotterdam Philharmonic,
Orchestre de Paris The Orchestre de Paris () is a French orchestra based in Paris. The orchestra currently performs most of its concerts at the Philharmonie de Paris. History In 1967, following the dissolution of the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du ...
,
Budapest Festival Orchestra The Budapest Festival Orchestra ( Hungarian: ''Budapesti Fesztiválzenekar'') was formed in 1983 by Iván Fischer and Zoltán Kocsis, with musicians "drawn from the cream of Hungary's younger players", as described by ''The Times''. Its aim was t ...
, Bamberg Symphony and Hallé Orchestra. In 2001–2002 his engagements included Orchestre National de Belgique,
RAI National Symphony Orchestra The RAI National Symphony Orchestra () is an Italian symphony radio orchestra, owned by the public radio and television company RAI. Its primary concert venue is the Auditorium RAI in the Piazza Rossaro in Turin. Its concerts are broadcast on Ra ...
, Gothenburg Symphony (with whom he made a successful recording with trombonist Christian Lindberg) and performances at the
Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival (SHMF) is a classical music festival held each summer throughout the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany. History The festival was founded in 1986 by German concert pianist and conductor Justus Fr ...
. Over recent seasons, Varga's reputation in North America has grown swiftly. In the 2011–2012 season he made his debut with the Houston Symphony and returned to the
Philadelphia Orchestra The Philadelphia Orchestra is an American symphony orchestra, based in Philadelphia. One of the " Big Five" American orchestras, the orchestra is based at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts, where it performs its subscription concerts, n ...
(with Yefim Bronfman), and other orchestras, including the
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,
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,
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and Nashville symphonies and the
Minnesota Orchestra The Minnesota Orchestra is an American orchestra based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Founded originally as the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903, the Minnesota Orchestra plays most of its concerts at Minneapolis's Orchestra Hall. History Th ...
whom he conducts every season. Since May 2013 he is Principal Conductor of the Taipei Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Varga did not extend his contract with Taipei and leave his post in December 2018. Varga works also at
music competition A music competition is a public event designed to identify and award outstanding musical ensembles, solo (music), soloists, composers, conducting, conductors, musicologists or compositions. Pop music competitions are music competitions which are h ...
s: From 2001 to 2012 he conducted the final rounds of the
Queen Elisabeth Competition The Queen Elisabeth Competition (, ) is an international competition for career-starting musicians held in City of Brussels, Brussels. The competition is named after Elisabeth of Bavaria, Queen of Belgium, Queen Elisabeth of Belgium (1876–1 ...
in
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, Belgium, which is one of the most challenging and prestigious competitions for instrumentalists. Furthermore, he is chairman of the jury of the International Violin Competition Henri Marteau in
Lichtenberg Lichtenberg may refer to: Places * Lichtenberg, Austria * Lichtenberg, Bas-Rhin, France * Lichtenberg, Bavaria, Germany * Lichtenberg, Berlin, Germany * Lichtenberg, Mittelsachsen, Saxony, Germany * Lichtenberg (Lausitz), Saxony, Germany * Lichte ...
and Hof, Germany.Brochure of the International Violin Competition Henri Marteau 2014


Discography

* ''Siebenthal – Orchestre Philharmonique Bulgare de Roussé, Gilbert Varga – Symphonie Valaisanne'' (LP). Concert Hall, Guilde Internationale du Disque, 1976 * ''Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1 in E minor Op. 11; Piano Concerto No. 2 in F Minor Op. 21''. Gilbert Varga, Sequeira Costa,
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (RPO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London, England. The RPO was established by Thomas Beecham in 1946. In its early days, the orchestra secured profitable recording contracts and important engagemen ...
. Intersound Records, 1999 * '' Håkan Hardenberger, Malmö Symphony Orchestra, Gilbert Varga – Håkan Hardenberger Plays Swedish Trumpet Concertos'' (CD, Album), 2000 *''Peter I. Tschaikowsky Von St. Petersburg Nach Moskau'' (Various). Box, comp + 3 CD). Das Beste Reader's Digest, 2001 *''Sounds of the Basque Country''. Composers: Jesus Guridi, Jose Maria Usandizaga, Jesus Arambarri, Andres Isasi, Francisco Escudero,
Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...
. Conductors: Miguel Angel Gomez Martinez, Enrique García Asensio, Gilbert Varga et al.. Basque National Orchestra, Maria Bayo (Performer). Claves, 2003. * ''Tschaikowsky: Concerto for Violin & Orchestra in D major, Op. 35; Serenade for Strings in C major, Op. 48''. Alfred Wallenstein (Conductor), Gilbert Varga (Conductor),
London Symphony Orchestra The London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) is a British symphony orchestra based in London. Founded in 1904, the LSO is the oldest of London's orchestras, symphony orchestras. The LSO was created by a group of players who left Henry Wood's Queen's ...
,
Stuttgarter Kammerorchester The Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra (Stuttgarter Kammerorchester) is a German chamber orchestra based in Stuttgart. Its principal concert venue is the . History Karl Münchinger founded the orchestra in 1945, and served as its chief conductor until ...
. Profil – G Haenssler, 2005 * ''Queen Elisabeth Competition of Belgium – Piano 2007'' (Various). 3 CD, 2007 * ''Rubinstein: Symphony No. 6'' – Gilbert Varga (Conductor), Philharmonia Hungarica * '' Anna Vinnitskaya Plays Prokofiev, Ravel Piano Concertos'' – Gilbert Varga (Conductor). Naive, 2010. * ''La Jeune Philharmonie / De Jonge Filharmonie – Wendy Hoffman – Gilbert Varga – Concert de la Société philharmonique / Concert Van De Filharmonische Vereniging''(CD, Album). Belgium.


Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Varga, Gilbert English conductors (music) 20th-century British conductors (music) 21st-century British conductors (music) 1952 births Living people 20th-century English musicians British male conductors (music) 20th-century British male musicians 21st-century British male musicians English people of Hungarian descent