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 cities of Hungary, second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain Regions of Hungary, region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the large ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, 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 and ...

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

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

'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 Ernő or Erno is a Finnish language, Finnish and Hungarian language, Hungarian masculine given name. Notable people with the name include: *Ernő Balogh (1897-1989), Hungarian pianist, composer, editor, and educator *Ernő Bánk (1883-1962), Hunga ...

, 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 in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, and was later an assistant there to

Zoltán Kodály Zoltán Kodály (, ; , ; 16 December 1882 – 6 March 1967) was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, music pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is well known internationally as the creator of the Kodály method of music education. ...

. Aged 14, he won first prize in the

Franz Liszt Franz Liszt (22 October 1811 – 31 July 1886) was a Hungarian composer, virtuoso pianist, conductor and teacher of the Romantic music, Romantic period. With a diverse List of compositions by Franz Liszt, body of work spanning more than six ...

competition at the Academy of Music in Budapest, in 1947. He received an honorable mention at the V International Chopin Piano Competition in 1955. He left Hungary in 1956, and settled in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

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

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. He made many recordings for

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

, 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 Piano solo, solo piano. He has maintained worldwide renown ...

and

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

. As a conductor, Vásáry served as joint artistic director of the Northern Sinfonia 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, pp. 19-20 () Vásáry was later Principal Conductor of the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, from 1989-97. Between 1993 and 2004 he was the Principal Conductor of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. 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,

, Chandos Records, Academy Sound and Vision, Collins Classic and Hungaroton. 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 Hungarian male classical pianists Hungarian 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 Hungarian conductors (music)