Zsolt Nagy - Reduced biography
Zsolt Nagy studied conducting at the Ferenc Liszt Academy in Budapest, where he was taught by István Párkai. Further study with Péter Eötvös led to become Eötvös's assistant at the Institute for New Music of the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe and for numerous other projects including Guest Professor at the International Eotvös Institute in Stuttgart (1995), Cologne (1997) and Edenkoben (1998, 2005).. He has been active as an opera and concert conductor since 1987 and leader of various orchestra projects and masterclasses for conductors in European conservatoires since 1992. In 1999 he was appointed Chief Conductor and Musical Advisor of the Israel Contemporary Players. He is artistic Director of the Masterclasses for Conductors of the Janacek Philharmonic Orchestra (Ostrava) and of the Masterclasses for Young Conductors of New Music (2001-2005 in the Jerusalem Music Centre) and Professor of Conducting at the Conservatoire National Supérieur in Paris.
He appears regularly in Germany, conducting orchestras such as the Deutsches Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Berlin Sinfonieorchester, WDR Cologne, SWR Stuttgart, or Ensemble Recherche, Ensemble Musikfabrik as a guest in Italy (RAI, Turin), Switzerland (Basler Kammerorchester and Ensemble Contrechamps Geneva), Norway, the UK (Contemporary Arts Ensemble of the ICA in London), France (Paris Conservatoire) and Austria where he conducted Klangforum Wien in the Lange Nacht (all-night concert) for the IGM at the Konzerthaus in March 2001. He has conducted at the festivals of Amsterdam, Antwerp, Basle, Bergen, Bremen, Budapest, Brussels, Donaueschingen, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Geneva, Ghent, Huddersfield, Jerusalem, Lisbon, Madrid, Milan, Ostrava, Paris, Prague, Rio de Janeiro, Royaumont, Salzburg, Seoul, Stuttgart, Tallinn, Tel-Aviv, Turin, Vienna and Zurich. He has premiered over 500 new compositions and has made a number of radio and CD recordings, and has received a special award for excellence in performing new Israeli music.
In December 2001 he made his début with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and later that season he conducted the Flanders Philharmonic for the first time and gave the world première of an opera by Francesco Hoch in Milan. In the 2002/2003 season he appeared at the Berio Festival in Dublin conducting the National Symphony Orchestra and also conducted the Orchestra dell'Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome and the WDR Symphony Orchestra.
In February 2003, he was entrusted with the world premiere of Stockhausen¹s Hoch-Zeiten commissioned by the Westdeutsche Rundfunk. Zsolt Nagy also took part in the premières of Stockhausen's Gruppen in Turin and Prague. In 2004 he made his début with the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta, Ensemble Intercontemporain and the Radio Filharmonisch Orkest in Holland.