Tamás Vásáry (; born 11 August 1933) is a Hungarian concert pianist and conductor.

Biography and career

Vásáry was born in

Debrecen Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and i ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, and made his stage debut at the age of 8, performing

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

's Piano Concerto in D major, K.107 in the city of his birth, where he gave a solo recital the following year. He then began to concertize regularly as a child prodigy. At this time he was introduced to Ernő Dohnányi, a leading figure of musical life in Hungary, who made a unique exception by offering to accept the gifted youth as a pupil in spite of his age. Vásáry studied only a short time under his tutelage, however, as Dohnányi soon left Hungary. He also studied with József Gát and Lajos Hernádi at the

Franz Liszt Academy of Music The Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music ( hu, Liszt Ferenc Zeneművészeti Egyetem, often abbreviated as ''Zeneakadémia'', "Liszt Academy") is a music university and a concert hall in Budapest, Hungary, founded on November 14, 1875. It is home to the ...

Budapest Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...

, and was later an assistant there to Zoltán Kodály. Aged 14, he won first prize in the

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt, in modern usage ''Liszt Ferenc'' . Liszt's Hungarian passport spelled his given name as "Ferencz". An orthographic reform of the Hungarian language in 1922 (which was 36 years after Liszt's death) changed the letter "cz" to simpl ...

competition at the Academy of Music in Budapest, in 1947. He received an honorable mention at the

V International Chopin Piano Competition The V International Chopin Piano Competition ( pl, V Międzynarodowy Konkurs Pianistyczny im. Fryderyka Chopina) was held from 21 February to 20 March 1955 in Warsaw. The competition was won by Adam Harasiewicz of Poland. The competition was he ...

in 1955. He left Hungary in 1956, and settled in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

. He made his débuts in the major cities of the West in 1960-61. He has subsequently resided in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. He made many recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, particularly of the Romantic repertoire, especially

Frédéric Chopin Frédéric François Chopin (born Fryderyk Franciszek Chopin; 1 March 181017 October 1849) was a Polish composer and virtuoso pianist of the Romantic period, who wrote primarily for solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown as a leadin ...

and

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a composer, one o ...

. As a conductor, Vásáry served as joint artistic director of the

Northern Sinfonia Royal Northern Sinfonia is a British chamber orchestra, founded in Newcastle upon Tyne and currently based in Gateshead. For the first 46 years of its history, the orchestra gave most of its concerts at the Newcastle City Hall. Since 2004, the o ...

from 1979 to 1982, sharing the post with Iván Fischer. With the Northern Sinfonia Vásáry recorded the Chopin piano concertos, directing from the keyboard.Griffiths, Bill, ''Northern Sinfonia''.

Northumbria University Press , mottoeng = A lifetime of learning , established = 1877 - Rutherford College of Technology1969 - Newcastle Polytechnic1992 - gained university status , type = Public , budget = � ...

, pp. 19-20 () Vásáry was later Principal Conductor of the

Bournemouth Sinfonietta The Bournemouth Sinfonietta was a chamber orchestra founded in 1968 as an offshoot of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. It was disbanded in November 1999 after increasing difficulties in obtaining funding from local councils led to the decisio ...

, from 1989-97. Between 1993 and 2004 he was the Principal Conductor of the

Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra The Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (also known earlier as Budapest Symphony Orchestra) ( hu, Magyar Rádió Szimfonikus Zenekara; MRZE) is a Hungarian radio orchestra. It is part of the Hungarian Television and Broadcasting Organisation, Magya ...

. He has guest conducted many of the principal British orchestras as well as appearing regularly in the United States and elsewhere as pianist and conductor.

Recordings

Vásáry has recorded under six different labels: Supraphon, Deutsche Grammophon,

Chandos Records Chandos Records is a British independent classical music recording company based in Colchester. It was founded in 1979 by Brian Couzens.Academy Sound and Vision, Collins Classic and

Hungaroton Hungaroton is the oldest record and music publisher company in Hungary. Hungaroton was founded in 1951, when its only competitors in the Hungarian music market were record labels like Melodiya, Supraphon and from other socialist countries. Pre ...

. He has recorded over 20 albums of the music of Liszt, Chopin, Brahms, Debussy, Rachmaninoff and Mozart with Deutsche Grammophon. In 1991, his recording of works by Liszt released by the Academy of Sound and Vision won the Grand Prize in Hungary. His recording of Dohnányi's violin concerto released by Hungaroton won the Midem Prize.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vasary, Tamas 1933 births Living people Hungarian classical pianists Jewish classical pianists Male classical pianists Hungarian conductors (music) Hungarian male musicians Male conductors (music) Franz Liszt Academy of Music alumni Long-Thibaud-Crespin Competition prize-winners Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music People from Debrecen Prize-winners of the Queen Elisabeth Competition 21st-century conductors (music)