József Horváth

conductor

- short biography -

Born in 1975 in Cluj, Romania, József Horváth started to play the piano and the violin at the age of six. He studied at the Music School  from Cluj until 1993, then studied choir conducting at the “Gheorghe Dimaâ€� Conservatory in Cluj. He graduated in 1999 and conducted Rossini’s Stabat Mater for his recital-exam. Beside choir conducting, he studied orchestra conducting with Petru Sbarcea and was awarded his degree in 2001 and conducted Verdi’s Macbeth.

Since October 1999, he is conductor of the Hungarian Opera of Cluj, Romania and for two years he was the Chorusmaster of the same institution.

The first opera performance he conducted was the Hunyadi László (2000), an opera by Ferenc Erkel, followed by the Nabucco (2000), Macbeth (2001), Carmen, The Barber of Sevilla (2002), the Cavalleria Rusticana, Suor Angelica, Gianni Schicchi, Don Pasquale (2003), The Magic Flute, Pagliacci, Rigoletto, Prokofiev’s Cinderella (2004), Tosca (2005), La Boheme (2006). After his debut with this operas he conducted them in different seasons regularly.

In 2003 he conducted a recording of Richard Strauss’ Vier letzte lieder with the Moravian Philharmonic Orchestra Olomouc, Czech Republic.

Between 1994 and 1998 he studied Bach interpretation with Dr. Christfried Brödel (Dresden) in courses organized by the Bach-Academy from Stuttgart in co-operation with the “Gh. Dima� Conservatory in Cluj.

In June 2004 he attended the Mastercourse of Maestro János Fürst (professor Paris Conservatory) in Szeged, Hungary and conducted the Szeged Symphonic Orchestra.

In July 2004 he continued his studies with George Pehlivanian and the Valencia Symphonic Orchestra.

In 2004 he was granted the scholarship of the Communitas Foundation from Romania.

In October 2005 he studied with Maestro Gennady Rozhdestvensky (Moscow Conservatory) on a Masterclass in Gotha, Germany, and conducted the Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha.

In July 2006 he participated in the Masterclasses of Maestro Kurt Masur held in Wroclaw, Poland.

Attending many rehearsals and concerts with well-known conductors like: Rudolf Barshai, Sir Colin Davis, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Philipe Herreweghe, Leonard Slatkin, Pinchas Steinberg and Jesús López-Cobos, gave him the opportunity to learn from these great maestros.

Beside opera conducting, he conducts different symphonic orchestras on a regular basis. He held concerts with the Philharmonic Orchestras from Arad, Bacau, Cluj-Napoca, Satu-Mare, Sibiu, Targu-Mures, and Timisoara, and conducted opera performances of the National Opera House of Bucharest as well. 

An important success he have in Budapest on 12^th of May 2005, when he conducted the Choir of the Hungarian Radio and presented Rachmaninov’s Vespers live on the Bartók Radio, Hungary.

Together with several talented young musicians in January 2006 he founded the CLASSICA Symphony Orchestra and performed the first concert on 8^th of March, 2006 with a good welcome of the public and professionals.

In 30^th of June, 2006 he conducted first time the “Transilvania� Philharmonic Orchestra from Cluj with a very good appreciation of the orchestra and great success for the public and critics.