Gergely Madaras

Last update: 24/04/2019
Fast gaining an international reputation as one of the most exciting young European conductors of his generation, Gergely Madaras was appointed as the inaugural recipient of the Charles Mackerras Fellowship of the English National Opera in 2012. His role combines working alongside Music Director Edward Gardner and assisting several productions a season. 2013/2014 marks his ENO debut, conducting a new Magic Flute production directed by Simon McBurney. The 13/14 season will also see Gergely take up the exciting post of Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Orchestre Dijon Bourgogne. His debut season will see him tackle a varied programme including Brahms' Ein Deutsches Requiem, a fully staged Peer Gynt as well as various symphonic performances. Future orchestral highlights feature his debuts with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Orchestra of the National Opera Brno as well as re-invitations to the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, MAV and Savaria Symphony Orchestras. Upcoming operatic highlights include his debut at De Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam as well as conducting the opening concert of the 30th International Bartok Festival featuring Herzog Bluebeard’s Castle. Following his debut in 2010 in the Vienna Musikverein with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, he has worked with such orchestras as the Brussels Radio Philharmonic, Bergen Philharmonic, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestra of the Teatro Regio Turin, Manchester Camerata, Sinfonia Viva, London Mozart Players, Concerto Budapest Symphony Orchestra and the St Petersburg State Hermitage Orchestra among many others. Highlights of the past season included conducting the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Hallé Orchestra in public masterclasses, under the guidance of Mariss Jansons, Sir Colin Davis and Sir Mark Elder. In recent years Gergely Madaras held the coveted Junior Fellowship in Conducting at the RNCM in Manchester, has been a conducting fellow at the Tanglewood Music Center (recipient of the 2009 Seiji Ozawa Fellowship) and American Academy of Conducting at Aspen. He has worked alongside and studied with conductors Pierre Boulez, James Levine, Sir Mark Elder, Herbert Blomstedt and David Zinman. Between 2011 and 2013 he served as assistant conductor for Pierre Boulez at the Lucerne Festival Academy, as well as for Sir Mark Elder and the inaugural Aldeburgh World Orchestra. In 2011 Gergely Madaras was one of three finalists at the 52nd Besançon International Competition for Young Conductors, and won the ARTE Live Web prize. Also in 2011, Madaras received the Junior Prima Prize, the most prestigious award in Hungary given every year to outstanding young artists. Madaras has also been exceptionally active on the international contemporary music scene with regular appearances at festivals such as the Wien Modern, MiTo Settembre Musica, Tanglewood Festival of Contemporary Music and Lucerne Festival Academy. In 2004 he co-founded the IKZE Festival (Contemporary Music Festival of Young Composers). This had become one of the most important new music events in Hungary and during its six years of existence it has premiered 109 works of 42 composers. Born in 1984 in Budapest, Gergely Madaras began his musical education studying the flute, violin and composition. He holds masters degrees from the orchestral conducting faculty of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna as well as from the flute faculty of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. His teachers were Mark Stringer and Henrik Prőhle.