Gregory Vajda
Biography
Gregory Vajda
Resident Conductor
Hailed as a “young titan”by the Montreal Gazette after conducting the Montreal Symphony in Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Schoenberg’s Erwartung, Gregory Vajda has fast become one of the most sought-after conductors on the international scene. After completing his tenure as assistant conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in 2005, Mr. Vajda took over as resident conductor of the Oregon Symphony Orchestra at the start of the 2005-06 season. Additionally, in 2009 he was appointed Artistic and Music Director of Music in the Mountains, CA - the only second conductor to hold that position in the festival’s 28-year history.
Vajda’s 2009/10 season began with a stint at the Hungarian Radio Symphony, followed by his first return to the Hungarian State Opera since emigrating to the US. In his adopted country he lead subscription concerts with the Oregon Symphony, debuted with the Seattle, Grand Rapids and Memphis symphonies, and returned to the San Antonio Symphony and Symphony Silicon Valley. His recording of Peter Eötvös's As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams was nominated for the MIDEM Classic Prize. Season 2008/09 marked Vajda’s introduction to the Salzburg Festival as assistant conductor to Peter Eötvös. He conducted the final performance of Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle with the Vienna Philharmonic and Vienna State Opera Chorus, before returning to the Atlanta Opera to lead La Cenerentola. On the orchestra stage, he conducted the Toronto and Edmonton symphonies among others. He also helped inaugurate the widely talked-about EMPAC at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (NY) with a performance of Grabstein für Stephan by György Kurtag.
In past seasons Vajda appeared with the Montreal Symphony, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Montreal and the Atlanta Opera companies, the Houston, Milwaukee, Winnipeg, Louisville, Omaha, Charlotte, Santa Rosa, Honolulu symphonies, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Calgary Philharmonic, the National Arts Centre Orchestra in Ottawa, Les Violins du Roy, the Ensemble Intercontemporain and Klangforum Wien. He has conducted at the festivals of Avignon and Strassbourg, the Spring and Autumn Festivals of Budapest, the Lanaudière Festival i Quebec, the Grant Park Festival in Chicago, the Round Top Festival in Texas, and at the Mostly Mozart Festival in Lincoln Center.
In addition to conducting, Vajda is also a clarinetist and composer. In January 2010 his new work Gulliver in Faremido was commissioned and premiered by Third Angle New Music Ensemble in Portland, OR. In previous years he recorded his one act opera, Barbie Blue and his orchestral composition Duevoe for the Hungarian Radio, he gave the premiere of his chamber opera The Giantbaby at the Puppet Theatre in Budapest, and his concert music for the silent film The Crowd was performed twice at the Auditorium of the Louvre.
Born in Budapest the son of renowned soprano Veronika Kincses, Gregory Vajda studied clarinet and conducting at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, the latter under Professor Ervin Lukács. He was also a conducting and composition pupil of well-known composer and conductor, Péter Eötvös.