Tamás Vásáry

Vásáry was born in Debrecen, Hungary, and made his stage debut at the age of 8, performing Mozart's Piano Concerto in D major, K.107 in the city of his birth, where he gave a solo recital the following year.

At this time he was introduced to Ernő Dohnányi, a leading figure of musical life in Hungary, who made a unique exception by offering to accept the gifted youth as a pupil in spite of his age.

He also studied with József Gát and Lajos Hernádi at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, and was later an assistant there to Zoltán Kodály.

He made many recordings for Deutsche Grammophon, particularly of the Romantic repertoire, especially Frédéric Chopin, Franz Liszt and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

As a conductor, Vásáry served as joint artistic director of the Northern Sinfonia from 1979 to 1982, sharing the post with Iván Fischer.