Gilbert Varga Gilbert Varga

Gilbert Varga(born 1952, London) is a British 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 Celibidacheand Charles Bruck.

The earlier part of his conducting career concentrated on work with many chamber orchestrasthroughout Germany and France including extensive work with the Tibor Varga Chamber Orchestra. From 1980 to 1985 Gilbert Varga was Chief Conductor of the Hofer Symphonikerand between 1985 and 1990 Chief Conductor of the Philharmonia Hungaricain 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 Munich Philharmonic, the radio orchestras of Cologneand Frankfurtand 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 Orchestraand from 2001 to 2008 he was Principal Conductor of the Euskadi Symphony Orchestra (Euskadiko Orkestra Sinfonikoa).

Recent years

In North America he also conducted Minnesota, Kansas City Symphony, and St Louis Symphony Orchestras, the symphony orchestrasof Toronto, Milwaukeeand Indianapolis, Los Angeles and St Paul Chamber Orchestras. Varga appeared twice at Aspen Music Festival. In South America, Varga appeared at Teatro Colonin 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 Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestraand the Sydney Symphony. In Europe Varga has worked with most major symphony orchestras, including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rotterdam Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Bamberg Symphonyand Hallé Orchestra. In 2001–2002 his engagements included Orchestre National de Belgique, RAI National Symphony Orchestra, Gothenburg Symphony(with whom he made a successful recording with trombonist Christian Lindberg) and performances at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival.

Over recent seasons, Varga's reputation in North America has grown swiftly. In the 2011–2012 season he made his debut with the Houston Symphonyand returned to the Philadelphia Orchestra(with Yefim Bronfman), and other orchestras, including the Indianapolis, Colorado, Utahand Nashville symphoniesand the Minnesota Orchestrawhom he conducts every season.Since May 2013 he is Principal Conductor of the Taipei Symphony Orchestra.

Varga works also at music competitions: From 2001 to 2012 he conducted the final rounds of the Queen Elisabeth Competitionin 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 Marteauin Lichtenbergand Hof, Germany.