Tamás Pál

conductor

"By the way, it was tremendous luck for the Szeged audience to hear Verdi’s rarely played masterpiece by the country’s best opera conductor."

— Zsolt Hollósi

Tamás Pál is an outstanding artist representing Hungarian conductors. Since he has already proven his excellent skills in interpreting lyric dramas on every continent, except Australia, his name is well known in concert halls and particularly in opera houses all over the world. His exceptional knowledge, his sense for the opera genre as well as his music pedagogy skills make him the doyen among Hungarian opera musicians. His personality is a fortunate combination of an experienced conductor to whom his profession is a service and a versatile, open minded expert of music.

He began his career in Budapest, but he could really engage his talent in Szeged, the third largest city in Hungary. His international career also started in this city. With his international experience he could contribute to making Szeged one of the acknowledged centres of Hungarian opera. Besides his engagements in Hungary he was invited to conduct in several countries around the world. He performed with great success in Italy and France as well as in Lima, Portland and Caracas.

Throughout his career Maestro Pál has conducted the whole Italian opera repertoire, therefore he is respected as a real expert of bel canto. Apart from interpreting famous and widely renowned masterpieces he has also participated in expanding international opera repertoire by rediscovering several remarkable but forgotten operas. Some of them such as Salieri’s Falstaff, Cimarosa’s Il Pittore Parigino and Don Sanche, one of Liszt’s early pieces, has become part of the international opera programme.

He has also participated in numerous high-quality concert and opera recordings published by prominent publishers such as Warner Music or Naxos, the great publisher of classical music and Hungaroton, well-known for its quality all over Europe.

During his long teaching career he has trained generations of singers and accompanists at the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, and currently he teaches opera students at the Faculty of Music in the University of Szeged. Over the last few years he has also directed successful onstage opera performances.

AWARDS

Vaszy Viktor prize, 2018
A Szegedért Alapítvány - Main prize, 2017
Pro Urbe Szeged, 2016
National Theatre, Szeged - Perpetual member, 2012
Dömötör - award, 2011
Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic, 2006
Excellent Artist, 1997
Franz Liszt Award, 1975