Dénes István

Curriculum Vitae

István Dénes a conductor born in Budapest, studied piano and conducting at the Music University Franz Liszt in Budapest has been working since 1977. During his study as a conductor in the Hungarian State Opera House, he was granted scholarship by Sir Georg Solti so he could study at the Music University in Wien.

During his study as a conductor in the Hungarian State Opera House, he was granted scholarship by Sir Georg Solti so he could study at the Music University in Wien.

From 1980 to 1984 he was an assistant professor for harmony studies at the Music University Franz Liszt in Budapest. From 1987 to 1995 he was the first conductor of the Theater Bremen and from 1995 to 2008 he was the musical director of the Theater in Trier. Furthermore he is the first guest conductor of the Hungarian State Opera House and the Radio Symphony Orchestra Budapest. In the last years he called attention to himself with a lot of discoveries, debut and first performance. The center of his musical act is on the interpretation of classical-romantic music and the modern musical from the early 20th century.

As a conductor István Dénes is regular guest in the great Concerthalls in Europe. As a conductor and composer he made numerous concert tours to Warsaw, Krakow, Bydgoszcz, Moscow, Prague, Pardubice, Ostrava and Brno. Other cities where he has already given a concert are Beijing, Luxembourg, Groningen, Metz, Eisenach, Jena, Berlin, Flensburg, Essen, Coburg, Marl, Darmstadt, Stuttgart, Bremen, Sondershausen, Rudolstadt and Halle. He conducted at the Opera-festival Vienna, at the Festival in Bregenz, in Verona Axur Re d´Ormus and in Montpellier Salomé.

In 2006 he made a CD-Production of the tour called ”Ten of the Best”, with the best 10 trumpeters of the world and with the Nürnberger Symphoniker

In 2008 along with Otto Sauter (trumpeter) he introduced a debut performance at Philharmonie Köln and Berlin. The concert for Piccolo, Trumpet and Symphonie Orchestra was written by the greek composer Mikis Theodorakis.

István Dénes made numerous radio performance for Hungarian Radio Budapest, Radio Bremen and Radio Bavaria. He recorded numerous albums to include Gamba Sonaten by J.S.Bach, Lieder-Cyclus by Brahms, Mahler, Dvorák, Diepholz-Symphonie by Georg Reuter, Puccini-Arias with Julia Kukely, Bariton-Arias with Laslo Lukas and Sopran-Arias with Eszter Sümegi. In 1996 he conducted the Opera Sarema by Zemlinsky that was performed for the first time.

As a composer István Dénes wrote pieces, like “Logarithmical Rhythme” for drums, “Trio in memoriam of Béla Bartók”, “Mohács 1526”, “Hommage á Beethoven”, “Funerailles”, “Fanfare and Chorals”, Phantasie and Fugue of the arts” for organ. In 2000 he wrote the “Treveris -cantate” for two women opera singer and for chorus/orchestra, inspired by an ancient text written by Ausonius and Alquinus. In 2000 he wrote an interesting piece “Nokia Walz for piano” and “Nokia-Walz for Orchestra” incorporating the mobile phone for the first time in history of classical music. He edited the Hungarian “Singspiel-musical comedy” by Kacsoh, reconstructed and ended the “Concert for beak in E KV494a” by W.A. Mozart.