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. He was Chief Conductor of the Hofer Symphoniker between 1980 and 1985 and from 1985 to 1990 Chief Conductor of the Philharmonia Hungarica in Marl, conducting their debut tour to Hungary with Yehudi Menuhin. In 1991 Varga took up the position of Permanent Guest Conductor of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra until 1995, and from 1997 to 2000 was Principal Guest of the Malmö Symphony. In 1997 Varga was appointed Music Director of the Basque National Symphony Orchestra, leading them through ten seasons, during which time he conducted them on tours across the UK, Germany, Spain and South America.
Varga has conducted many of Europe’s major orchestras; in the recent and forthcoming seasons these include the Orchestre de Paris, Bayerische Staatsorchester, Berlin Radio Symphony, Gürzenich, Frankfurt Museumgesellschaft, MDR Leipzig, Hungarian National Philharmonic, Gulbenkian Orchestra, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Basel Symphony whom he has conducted every season for several years. Highlights of the 07-8 season included his return to the Berlin Konzerthaus Orchester which was received with great critical acclaim from the Berlin press, his debut with the Orquesta Nacionales de España which was a huge success and met with an immediate re-invitation and his last-minute engagement by the Oslo Philharmonic stepping in for an indisposed conductor, which was again met with an immediate re-invitation.
In North America, Varga made his debut with the Minnesota Orchestra in 2002 and has since developed a flourishing and long-standing relationship with the orchestra which sees him returning there every season. In 2005 he made a highly successful debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra, and in 2007-8 made his debut with the orchestras of Dallas and Detroit, with a re-invitation from Dallas offered immediately for 08-9. Varga is a regular guest with St Louis Symphony and will return to the orchestras of Milwaukee and Indianapolis this season as well as making his debut with the Atlanta Symphony.
Further afield, Varga returns to South East Asia this season to make his debut with the Malaysian Philharmonic and later in 2009 he will conduct the Taipei Symphony Orchestra.
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.
September 2008 / 449 words. Not to be altered without permission. Please destroy all previous biographical material.