Gilbert Varga

Gilbert Varga
Gilbert Varga
Born	17 January 1952 (age 72); London, England
Genres	Classical
Occupation(s)	Conductor
Years active	1976–present

Gilbert Varga (born 1952, London) is a British-Hungarian conductor and the Principal Conductor of the Taipei Symphony Orchestra.

Varga 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 and Charles Bruck.

The earlier part of his conducting career concentrated on work with many

chamber orchestras 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 Marl, 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

.

Since that time, he was invited to conduct several European ensembles including the

Gurzenich Orchestra. From 1991 to 1995 he was Permanent Guest Conductor of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, and from 1997 until 2000 he was Principal Guest Conductor of the Malmö Symphony Orchestra and from 2001 to 2008 he was Principal Conductor of the Euskadi Symphony Orchestra (Euskadiko Orkestra Sinfonikoa).^[1]

Recent years

In North America he also conducted

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

Sydney Symphony

. In Europe Varga has worked with most major symphony orchestras, including the

Gothenburg Symphony (with whom he made a successful recording with trombonist Christian Lindberg) and performances at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival.^[2]

Over recent seasons, Varga's reputation in North America has grown swiftly. In the 2011–2012 season he made his debut with the

Utah and Nashville symphonies and the Minnesota Orchestra whom he conducts every season.^[4] Since May 2013 he is Principal Conductor of the Taipei Symphony Orchestra.^[5]

Varga works also at music competitions: From 2001 to 2012 he conducted the final rounds of the Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, 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 and Hof, Germany.^[6]

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. 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:
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, Stuttgarter Kammerorchester. 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

^ (in Spanish) Orquesta de Euskadi. Gilbert Varga y Cristian Mandeal – Una etapa larga y fructífera (2001–2008)
^ Gilbert Varga – biography
^ Luks, Joel (25 October 2011). "Houston Symphony guest conductor Gilbert Varga engineers a smooth Haydn & rocky Ravel". Houston Culturemap. Retrieved 29 June 2018.
^ Intermusica. Gilbert Varga – Conductor
^ Taipei Symphony Orchestra – Conductor
^ Brochure of the International Violin Competition Henri Marteau 2014 Archived 25 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine

[1] (in Spanish) Orquesta de Euskadi. Gilbert Varga y Cristian Mandeal – Una etapa larga y fructífera (2001–2008)

[2] Gilbert Varga – biography

[3] Luks, Joel (25 October 2011). "Houston Symphony guest conductor Gilbert Varga engineers a smooth Haydn & rocky Ravel". Houston Culturemap. Retrieved 29 June 2018.

[4] Intermusica. Gilbert Varga – Conductor

[5] Taipei Symphony Orchestra – Conductor

[6] Brochure of the International Violin Competition Henri Marteau 2014 Archived 25 September 2015 at the Wayback Machine

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