Gábor Takács-Nagy for Camerata post

Gábor-Takács-Nagy unveiled as Manchester Camerata’s new Music Director from September 2011

Manchester Camerata is excited to announce that the great Hungarian musician Gábor Takács-Nagy will take over from Douglas Boyd as Music Director from September next year. 

Internationally known as a chamber music player and a founding member of the Takács Quartet, Gábor is now establishing a formidable reputation for himself as a conductor. The fact that he will be pursuing the next phase of his career in Manchester is a real coup for the orchestra and for the city.

Building on the success of the Boyd/Camerata era, Gábor will work closely with this leading chamber orchestra which is full of Mancunian energy, humour and creativity. This new partnership promises to be quite exceptional. It is a partnership which will not only benefit the orchestra and its audiences but will reinforce the international dimension of Manchester’s cultural life too.

Born in Budapest he began to learn the violin at the age of 8, and went on to study at the prestigious Liszt Ferenc Academy in the Hungarian capital. In 1975 he was a founder member and leader of the renowned and respected Takács Quartet, with whom he performed with many of the world’s most celebrated musicians and made many recordings for Decca and Hungaroton. He was awarded the Liszt Prize in 1982. After leaving the quartet in 1992 he founded the Takács Piano Trio in 1996. In 2008 he formed the Mikrokosmos String Quartet with Zoltán Tuska, Sándor Papp and Miklós Perényi, with whom he recorded the complete Bartók string quartets.

Gabor Takács-Nagy became Music Director of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra in 2007 and was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of both the Hungarian Symphony Orchestra and the MAV Symphony Orchestra in Budapest in 2008. His own string orchestra, the Camerata Bellerive, which he set up in 2005, is orchestra-in-residence at Geneva’s annual Festival de Bellerive, of which he is also artistic director.

Gábor Takács-Nagy is also a dedicated and highly sought-after teacher. He is Professor of String Quartet at the Geneva Conservatoire and regularly gives masterclasses at leading academies and conservatoires throughout the world. He is also a tutor with the European Chamber Music Academy and was recently appointed to an International Chair in Chamber Music at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester.

Speaking about his Manchester Camerata appointment, Gábor-Takács-Nagy said:

“To find such a wonderful group of artists such as Camerata, such warm audiences as those in Manchester, is a joy. I look forward to many years of making and sharing music in your great city.”

Announcing the appointment, Manchester Camerata Board and CEO Bob Riley added:

“We’ve been fortunate to work with Dougie Boyd for 10 years, and are more fortunate still that this vision and passion can be continued by a musician such as Takács-Nagy. Members of the orchestra were involved in the process leading to his appointment and so we look forward with certainty to the flourishing of this musical relationship. It is with great excitement that we look ahead to Manchester Camerata’s future, both nationally and internationally.”

Welcoming the appointment of his successor, Douglas Boyd said:

“Manchester Camerata has been a huge part of my life for the last 9 years. I have been so fortunate to make music with such a dedicated group of musicians. My dream has always been, at some stage, to hand the baton on to a wonderful musician who can inspire the orchestra and continue to develop this dynamic organisation. I am delighted that the orchestra and Gabor Takács-Nagy have found each other. I am absolutely sure that together they will forge an exciting future for Manchester Camerata.”

Gabor is no stranger to the North West; his wife Lesley is from Burnley, in East Lancashire, so this is something of a homecoming for the couple.

Gábor-Takács-Nagy will take the post of Manchester Camerata’s Music Director in September 2011.

He is already scheduled to work with Manchester Camerata in the 2010/11 season with several concerts in October and November.

Read how the world’s media is reporting the appointment at Gramophone Magazine, Classical Source, Musbook.com InstantEncore,   All The Conducting Masterclasses   Musical America  Arts Council England