Tamás Vásáry

Tamás Vásáry (born August 11, 1933, Debrecen, Hungary) is a Hungarian pianist. Vásáry gave his first public performances at the age of 8. He studied with Ernő Dohnányi and Józef Gát at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, and was later assistant there to Zoltán Kodály. Vásáry won the Franz Liszt Competition in Budapest in 1948. He left Hungary in 1956 and settled in Switzerland. He made his débuts in the major cities of the West in 1960 and 1961. He has subsequently resided in London, England. He has made many recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, particularly of the Romantic repertoire, especially Frédéric Chopin. As a conductor, Vásáry served as joint artistic director of the Northern Sinfonia from 1979 to 1982, sharing the post with Iván Fischer. With the Northern Sinfonia, Vásáry recorded the Chopin piano concertos, directing from the keyboard. Vásáry was later Principal Conductor of the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, from 1989 to 1997. He has guest conducted many of the principal British orchestras as well as appearing regularly in the United States and elsewhere as pianist and conductor. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.