Gilbert Varga, son of the celebrated Hungarian violinist, Tibor Varga, studied under three very different and distinctive maestros: Franco Ferrara, Sergiu Celibidache and Charles Bruck.
Renowned for his exemplary baton technique, Varga has held positions with and guest conducted many of the major orchestras throughout the world.
In the earlier part of his conducting career Varga concentrated on work with chamber orchestras, particularly the Tibor Varga Chamber Orchestra, before rapidly developing a reputation as a symphonic conductor. From 1980 to 1985 Varga was Chief Conductor of the Hofer Symphoniker and between 1985 and 1990 Chief Conductor of the Philharmonia Hungarica in Marl, conducting their debut tour to Hungary with Yehudi Menuhin. From 1991 to 1995 he was Permanent Guest Conductor of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra, and from 1997 until 2000 Principal Guest of the Malmö Symphony. Since 1997 Varga has been Music Director of The Basque National Orchestra, during which time he has conducted them on tours across the UK, Germany and Spain, and in 2007-8, Varga's tenth season, he will conduct them on a tour of South America.
Varga has conducted many of Europe's major orchestras including the Munich Philharmonic, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic Bayerische Staatsoper Orchestra, Orchestra of Santa Cecilia. Highlights of the current and forthcoming seasons include his debut with Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España and returns to Berlin Radio Symphony, Berlin Symphony, Hungarian National Philharmonic, Gürzenich Orchestra, Basel Symphony, Frankfurt's Museumgesellschaft, MDR Leipzig, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and debuts with the Orquesta Nacional de Espana and the Gulbenkian Orchestra.
In recent seasons Varga's US profile has seen exponential growth. In 2005 he made a highly successful debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra and in 2007-8 he will make his debut with the orchestras of Dallas and Detroit. Varga is a regular guest with St Louis Symphony and the Minnesota Orchestra, having conducted both orchestras almost every season since his debuts in 2002. He has also conducted the orchestras of Milwaukee, Indianapolis and New Jersey and will return to these in the coming seasons. Further afield he has conducted at Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Sydney Symphony and the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony in Tokyo.
Varga's discography includes recordings with ASV, Discover Records, Tring (The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra's Collection), Koch International (Munich Chamber Orchestra and Bamberg Symphony) and Claves Recordings (The Basque National Orchestra).
Gilbert Varga is represented by Intermusica.
January 2008 / 393 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.