GERGELY TÓTH-VAJNA

"Gergely Toth-Vajna is a talented young conductor, with interesting ideas about performance practice.

He has a lively and confident manner on the rostrum. But conductors these days need brains as well as enthusiasm.He studied with me at the Royal College of Music in London, where he is a Doctoral student.

I think he has a promising future."

                                                                         -Sir Roger Norrington

 

Gergely Tóth-Vajna, conductor and keyboard specialist, is one of the emerging figures of the international musical scene. His early musical studies included composition, piano, percussion, wind instruments and violin, and later he continued playing the organ at the Béla Bartók Conservatory in Hungary. Later, he studied conducting in Budapest. He has recently completed his postgraduate studies at the Royal College of Music in fortepiano and conducting with renowned professors, including Geoffrey Govier, Howard Williams, Ashley Solomon and Sir Roger Norrington.

Gergely has given recitals in many European countries and in the United States of America as a soloist on instruments including the fortepiano, harpsichord, organ and clavichord. He has also worked as a conductor for orchestras such as the Budafoki Dohnányi Ernő Symphony Orchestra, Slovakian Radio Symphony Orchestra, South Bohemian Symphony Orchestra, Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra, Agosto Orchestra, Duna Symphony Orchestra, ÚMZE, Berlin Simfonietta, Semmelweis Orchestra, Harmonia Caelestis Baroque Orchestra, Savaria Symphony Orchestra and Anima Musicae Chamber Orchestra, among others. He is currently a mentored conductor of the Collegium Symphonicum Hungaricum, working under the guidance of Mo. Zsolt Hamar.

At the request of Hungarian television and radio channels Gergely has participated in many productions aimed at the promotion of traditional keyboard music. He is the founder and artistic director of the Harmonia Caelestis Baroque Orchestra (founded in 2015) in Budapest, and is a passionate four-hands player, collaborating with his chamber music partner and twin brother Zsombor as Duo Piano e Forte. Their discography comprises four CDs on fortepiano and harpsichord music, including the premiere of Händel’s suite for two harpsichords.

He has attended several masterclasses on conducting and historical keyboard instruments where he has had the opportunity to learn from the greatest of masters, including: Péter Eötvös, Daniela Gatti, Riccardo Muti, Gábor Hollerung, Jorma Panula, Uroš Lajovic, Malcolm Bilson, Ton Koopman, Masaaki Suzuki, Lorenzo Ghielmi, Christine Schornsheim and Hans Fagius. 

Gergely Tóth-Vajna was awarded the prestigious Kerpel Prize in 2013 and was elected among the 50 most talented young Hungarians in 2015. Gergely is also a four-time recipient of the grant for the talented youth in Hungary as well as several research grants.

He started his doctoral studies at the Royal College of Music in 2021, with a focus on English Classical Piano music, and is a Royal College of Music Studentship Holder. 

He won first prize in solo category at the Odin International Music Competition, and second prize in chamber music category in 2021.

In addition to his musical ventures, Gergely holds a summa cum laude degree in medicine from the Semmelweis University and is a board-certified Pediatrician. He obtained his medical PhD degree in 2022.