About the author

Gábor Hollerung (1954) · conductor · choral conductor · music director

Winner of the Prima Primissima and Ferenc Liszt Awards, he is executive music director of the Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok, principal conductor of the Budapest Academic Choral Society, artistic director of the Zemplén Festival and founder and artistic director of the Budapest International Choir Competition.

Studies

He studied choral conducting (1972–1977) and orchestral conducting (1975–1980) at the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music with Zoltán Vásárhelyi, István Párkai and András Kórodi, and continued at the masterclasses of Eric Ericson, Kurt Masur and László Somogyi.

Career

Principal conductor of the Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok from 1989 and its executive music director since 2001; music director and later artistic director of the Honvéd Ensemble between 2001 and 2008. He was principal guest conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (2002–2005) and musical advisor of the Philharmonia Singers Tel Aviv (2002–2007), and has guest conducted the Israel Philharmonic, the Cincinnati, Brazilian, Shanghai and Guangzhou symphony orchestras and the Taiwan National Symphony Orchestra. Honours include the Prima Primissima Award (2023), Artist of Merit (2015), the Jerusalem Prize (2006), the Ferenc Liszt Award (2004) and the Knight's Cross of the Order of Merit of Hungary (2002).

Understandable Music

His trademark series, Understandable Music, has transformed the way audiences relate to orchestral works: with humour, sharp analysis and contagious enthusiasm he unfolds the architecture of Hungarian and international masterpieces, turning listeners from passive observers into active co-creators. This book grew out of that work.

Conducting masterclass

Gábor Hollerung teaches a conducting masterclass at the Dohnányi Academy, where young conductors work with a live symphony orchestra, the musicians of the Dohnányi Orchestra Budafok. Details and applications: dohnanyiacademy.com.

More information: hollerung.hu