Gábor Takács-Nagy
Gábor Takács-Nagy, Hungary, Chairman
A native of Budapest, Gábor Takács-Nagy began the violin at the age of eight. He studied at the Franz Liszt Academy with Nathan Milstein (violin), as well as Ferenc Rádos, András Mihaly and György Kurtag (chamber music). In 1979, he won First Prize at the Jeno Hubay Violin Competition and in 1982, he was awarded the Liszt Prize.
From 1975 to 1992, he was a founding member and leader of the acclaimed the Takács Quartet, which performed with legendary artists and produced memorable recordings of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. In 1996, he founded the Takács Piano Trio and made world-premiere recordings of works of Liszt, Lajtha and Veress. In 1998 he established the Mikrokosmos string quartet with compatriots Miklos Perényi, Zoltan Tuska, and Sandor Papp, recording in 2008 the complete cycle of Bartok’s string quartets for which they were awarded the « Excellencia » Prize.
In 2002, Gábor Takács-Nagy turned to conducting, creating in 2005 his own string ensemble, the Camerata Bellerive. He became Music Director of the Weinberger Kammerorchestra in 2006, of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra in 2007 and of the Manchester Camerata in 2011. He was Music Director of the MAV Symphony Orchestra from 2010 until 2012. He is also Principal Guest Conductor of the Budapest Festival Orchestra and Principal Artistic Partner of the Irish Chamber Orchestra. Gábor Takács-Nagy is a dedicated and highly sought-after chamber music teacher. He is Professor of String Quartet at the Haute Ecole de Musique in Geneva and gives masterclasses across the world.