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IVAN TORZS
Born, raised and educated in the United States, Ivan Törzs has lived and worked in Germany since 1985, where he has forged a career as one of the most versatile, cosmopolitan and experience orchestra directors on the European opera scene. Fluent in nine languages, he is equally at home with German, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish or American repertoire. Whether conducting Wagner's Ring cycle, a bel canto opera of Bellini, or a Spanish operetta, he brings to all his interpretations a profound understanding of the culture, literature, and musical traditions which have helped shape each work.
From 2002 to 2008 Ivan Törzs was Principal Conductor of the Flanders Opera (de Vlaamse Opera) in Antwerp, Belgium. Prior to his stay in Antwerp, he was Music and Artistic Director of the Mecklenburg State Theater in Schwerin, Germany.
He received a prize in Belgium's Queen Elisabeth Competition and has directed prestigious orchestras such as the Vienna State Opera, the Hamburg State Opera, the Stuttgart Opera, the NDR Orchestra Hannover, the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, the Tirana Symphony Orchestra, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the Russian National Orchestra, and the Israeli Kibbutz Orchestra. He has appeared at the opera houses of Miami, Düsseldorf, Strasbourg, Nancy, Nuremburg, Prague, Spoleto, Mainz, Münster, Budapest, and Honolulu and in the Spoleto Festival USA and the Macao Festival.
In addition to his work as an orchestra conductor, Ivan Törzs is also a highly-demanded pianist, giving concerts and song recitals at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Semperoper Dresden, the Cologne Opera, the RAI Turin, and in Palermo, Catania and Asolo, among others. He also recorded ballads by Schubert and Loewe for television.
Parallel to his professional life, Ivan Törzs puts a great deal of energy into integrating music and his orchestra into the social, cultural and political life of the community. He has organized charity concerts and numerous activities to benefit society.
In recent years Ivan Törzs has focused on working with young artists. He has been invited to give master classes and workshops for orchestra conductors and singers at several opera programs and music schools. In 2010 he was named Professor at the Detmold Conservatory of Music, Germany.
Ivan Törzs comes from a family with a long theatrical tradition. His grandfather, Törzs Jenö, was one of the most famous Hungarian actors of the pre-war generation; his father was also an actor, and his mother was a flamenco dancer. After obtaining a degree in Mathematics from Princeton University, Törzs, who by that time was already an accomplished pianist, studied Orchestra and Choir Direction at the Mannes College of Music and the Julliard School.
Recordings:
- Wagner: "Die Walküre" Act I, with Edda Moser, Mark Lundberg, Frode Olsen (Calig Records)
- Thomas: "Mignon" Highlights with soloists, orchestra and chorus of the Prague State Opera
- "Musik der mecklenburgischen Hofkapelle" with the Mecklenburgische Staatskapelle Schwerin: works of Vivaldi, Künzel, Sperger et al.
- Mozart, Jörns: Concerti for Wind Quintet and Orchestra with the Rossetti Wind Quintet
- Mozart, Danzi: Piano and Wind Quintets with the Rossetti Wind Quintet
- "Weihnachtsmärchen" Piano works of Bach, Schumann et al. (Lübbe Verlag)
- "Der Mond ist aufgegangen" Piano works of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin (Lübbe Verlag)
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