Gergely Madaras appointed to be next Music Director of the Liège Royal Philharmonic

Gergely Madaras will take over from Christian Arming as Music Director on 1 September 2019.

The conductor Christian ARMING, Music Director of the Liège Royal Philharmonic (OPRL) since September 2011, comes to the end of his second mandate in August 2019, at the end of a season in which several projects will come to fruition which are linked to the image of the Liège Royal Philharmonic and contribute to its international reputation (including a tour in Japan and several collaborations with the classical and jazz TV station MEZZO).

Following a proposal by the Managing Director, Daniel Weissmann, the Board of the Liège Royal Philharmonic has appointed Gergely MADARAS as Music Director with effect from 1 September 2019, for a duration of three years.

Gergely Madaras will thus become the youngest Music Director to be appointed to lead the Liège Philharmonic since it was established in 1960.

33 years old Hungarian conductor Gergely Madaras is Music Director of the Orchestre Dijon Bourgogne since 2013 and Principal Conductor of the Savaria Symphony Orchestra since 2014. At both his organisations, he has multiplied audiences during his tenure, and reformed the missions of the orchestras, reconnecting them with their home cities. Madaras regularly appears as a guest conductor with leading orchestras such as the BBC Symphony, Hallé, BBC Philharmonic, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Copenhagen and Oslo Philharmonic, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Münchener Kammerorchester and Academy of Ancient Music. Equally establishing a distinguished operatic repertoire, he has appeared at the English National Opera, the Dutch National Opera, Hungarian State Opera and Grand Théâtre de Genève. While grounded in the traditional classic and romantic repertoire, Madaras is an advocate of Bartók, Kodály and Dohnányi and also maintains a close relationship with new music, having conducted more than 100 works written after 1970, and closely collaborating with composers Pierre Boulez, George Benjamin and Peter Eötvös.

Gergely Madaras can boast of an intelligently and patiently developed musical career, shaped by his encounters with eminent figures from the variety of domains in which he excels. Very much a twenty-first century musician, conscious of the issues in art today and of modern methods of communication, he shares the Liège Royal Philharmonic’s attitude of openness and reflection on the meaning of “the orchestra today” and on making connections with audiences.

“While working with the OPRL in February 2017, I was immediately struck by their energy and elan, and the musicians’ keen spirit to perfect their already rich and colourful playing. I was met with an outstanding openness and flexibility and felt that we were immediately able to form a natural connection. I am thrilled to embark on an exciting creative partnership together with this world-class ensemble and its ambitious administration. What’s more I am delighted at the opportunity to familiarize myself with a region so rich in culture, tradition and history!”

Gergely Madaras

"I am thrilled to be able to welcome Gergely a a time when the OPRL is moving towars new and ever broader horizons; we will need his creativity and his energy, in order to reach new audiences and to make contact with a generation that is too often distanced from culture. Gergely is not onlt a young conductor: although young, he is already a great conductor!"

Daniel Weissmann, Managing Director of the OPRL

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