Published: 01 April 2011
Category: Artists

Gilbert Varga made his debut with the Royal Scottish National Orchestra in April in two concerts at Usher Hall, Edinburgh, and Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. The programme included works by Kodály and Haydn, as well as Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No.4 with Marc-André Hamelin.

March saw Varga’s debut with the Colorado Symphony Orchestra in a programme of Haydn, Liszt, Schubert and R. Strauss. The Denver Post said of his performance, “The orchestra has not sounded better this season.”

Also in the US in March, Varga returned to the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, where he conducted Schubert, Mozart, J. Strauss and R. Strauss. In January, Varga returned to the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, where he conducted the world premiere of Claude Baker’s Piano Concerto From Noon to Starry Night with Marc-André Hamelin, as well as Mozart’s Don Giovanni Overture and Franck’s Symphony in D. Indianapolis’s weekly NUVO wrote:

“Varga has been in the top echelon of ISO guest conductors in the last two years; with the Franck, he once again affirmed his reputation.”

Varga will return for his fourth consecutive season in October 2011 to conduct Mozart, Bartók and Beethoven.

Back in Europe, Gilbert Varga returned to conduct the Konzerthausorchester Berlin in January in an all-Ravel programme at the Konzerthaus, Berlin. Jean-Efflam Bavouzet was the soloist for Ravel’s Piano Concerto in G major and Piano Concerto for the Left Hand. The programme opened with Valses nobles et sentimentales and closed with La Valse.

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