Tamás Varga

Tamás Varga was born in 1969 in Budapest and finished his cello studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of his native city, taking part in master classes by Miklós Perényi and Uzi Wiesel, among others. After beginning his career with the Budapest State Opera and the Budapest Radio Orchestra, in 1998 he was engaged as solo cellist with the Vienna State Opera and in 2001 became a member of the Vienna Philharmonic. He has also appeared regularly as soloist with his orchestra, under the baton of Zubin Mehta, Seiji Ozawa, Christoph Eschenbach, and the late Giuseppe Sinopoli, with whom he performed Beethoven’s Triple Concerto. He has in addition performed cello concertos with all the leading orchestras of Hungary and has concertized under Michael Tilson Thomas in the United States. As a chamber musician he appears with the Philharmonia Trio and the Vienna Chamber Ensemble throughout Europe. He initiated the special concert “Remembering Piatigorsky” at the Vienna Musikverein in honor of the centenary of the legendary cellist, while with his colleagues from the Philharmonic he performed the cycle “Dvorák and the New World.”

April 2009