Artists

He was born in Budapest in 1951. In 1973 he graduated from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, where he studied under András Kórodi.

After obtaining his conducting diploma, he was immediately appointed répétiteur at the Hungarian State Opera House, and from 1976 he was engaged there as a conductor. Between 1978 and 1980, for three consecutive summers, he served as musical assistant at the Bayreuth Festival. From 1987 to 1990 he was Principal Conductor of the Hungarian State Opera House.

He has regularly appeared as guest conductor with all major Hungarian orchestras. He served as First Guest Conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra, and since 1992 has been a permanent guest conductor of the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, where he has held the position of First Guest Conductor since 1998. He has appeared as guest conductor in numerous European cities; with the company of the Hungarian State Opera he has performed in Berlin and London, and he has toured Germany and Brazil, among other countries, with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Hungary. From the autumn of 2007 he again served as Principal Conductor of the Hungarian State Opera. Since 2014 he has been permanent conductor of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.

In recognition of his artistic achievements, he was awarded the Liszt Prize in 1984, the title of Merited Artist in 1996, the Kossuth Prize in 2001, the Prima Primissima Award in 2015, the Officer’s Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit (Civil Division) in 2018, and the Artisjus Award in 2019.

Since 2010 he has been an Eternal Member of the Hungarian State Opera.