Gergely Vajda is a conductor, composer and clarinettist. He has been Music Director of the Huntsville Symphony Orchestra (Alabama, USA) since 2011, Principal Conductor of the Savaria Symphony Orchestra in Szombathely since 2022 and Principal Conductor of the Transylvania State Philharmonic Orchestra in Cluj-Napoca since 2026. He has served as Artistic Director of the UMZE Ensemble for contemporary music since 2019, as an Artist-in-Residence with the French contemporary music ensemble Ars Nova from 2021 to 2023, and subsequently as its Principal Associate Conductor (Chef Principal Associé) from 2024 to 2026. Since 2018, he has been Programme Director and a professor on the masterclasses of the Péter Eötvös Foundation. Following his tenure as Principal Conductor of the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra from 2011 to 2014, Vajda became the orchestra’s Permanent Guest Conductor. He also served as Artistic Director of the Armel International Opera Festival and Competition from 2014 to 2019.
He has conducted, among others, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Frankfurt Radio Symphony, the Montreal, Toronto and Seattle Symphonies, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s new music ensemble, Ensemble Intercontemporain, Israel Contemporary Players and Klangforum Wien. As an opera conductor, he has appeared several times with the companies of Montreal Opera and Atlanta Opera, as well as in productions at Staatsoper Hamburg and the Hungarian State Opera. He has conducted at Teatro Massimo in Palermo and at the Budapest Wagner Days Festival, and, as a last-minute replacement, conducted a staged Bartók programme with the Vienna Philharmonic at the Salzburg Festival (2008). He has recorded two world-premiere opera recordings: Dohnányi’s The Tenor and Eötvös’s Paradise Reloaded, Lilith. Among the world-renowned festivals at which he has appeared as a guest artist are the Launaudière Festival in Canada, Mostly Mozart in New York, Grant Park Music Festival in Chicago, Ars Musica in Brussels and Milano Musica.
In the 2026/27 season, Gergely Vajda will make his debuts at the Radio France Présences Festival at the Philharmonie de Paris and at the Besançon International Music Festival, on both occasions conducting the Ars Nova ensemble. During the season, Vajda will also return to the Hungarian Radio Music Ensembles, this time at the Müpa Budapest, for the Hungarian premiere of Philip Glass’s monumental Symphony No. 5. In 2002, Gergely Vajda received the Gundel Art Award for conducting, and in 2020 he was awarded the Artisjus Performing Arts Award. He is represented by Dispeker Artist Management in the United States and Microcosmos Artists Agency. His recordings have been released by ECM, BMC and Hungaroton Classic and are available on all major online platforms.
