30 October 2008
Tamás Varga (cello) and Béla Simon (pianoforte) perform in Gibraltar
The Gibraltar Philharmonic Society together with it’s great supporters Bonita Trust are happy to announce Cello recital which to be to be held this coming 24th November at The Convent Ballroom commencing at 8:30pm.
This concert will be performed by two passionate artists - Principal Cello of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra Tamás Varga (cello) and pianoforte virtuoso Béla Simon (pianoforte).
Tamás Varga was born in Budapest in 1969 and began studying the cello at age seven. In 1992 he completed a degree with honors at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where his teachers included László Mezö, Ferenc Rados and György Kurtág. Mr. Varga was also highly influenced by such artists as Miklós Perényi, Menahem Pressler and Uzi Wiesel, the last of whom accepted him as a scholarship student at the Rubin Academy in Tel Aviv. Having won the Hungarian National Music Competition for the second time in 1987, Tamás Varga became one of the most popular soloists in Hungary.
Tamás Varga is Principal Cellist of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (VPO) as well as the Vienna State Opera. A regular soloist with the VPO, he performed Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in the 1999-2000 season under Giuseppe Sinopoli, the Sinfonie Concertante of Haydn in 2003 under Zubin Mehta and the Cello Concerto of Schumann in 2006 under Christoph Eschenbach. In addition to his 2003 BBC Proms debut at London’s Royal Albert Hall, Mr. Varga has appeared in numerous solo and chamber music engagements across Europe, Canada, South Africa and Japan. In 2004 he toured Spain as soloist with the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, performing the concertos of Dvorák and Saint-Saëns.
Pianoforte virtuoso Béla Simon began studying the piano in 1971 and from the age of eight, studied at the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, with György Nádor. When he entered the senior department aged sixteen, he also received tuition in chamber music from György Kurtag and Ferenc Rados. With the support of a German Government Scholarship, he studied from 1991 to1992 at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater Hannover, with Karl-Heinz Kammerling.
Béla Simon has performed chamber music in Berlin, Vienna, Bergamo, at the Bodensee Festival in Germany, and also Slovakia and Poland. In the summer of 1992 he made an extensive concert tour of South Africa, and broadcast for the South African Broadcasting Company.
A society spokesman said; “Collaboration with Mr. Varga and Mr. Simon has resulted in splendid duet. Cello in general has been described as the closest sounding instrument to the human voice. This concert will give opportunity to appreciate Paganini, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn and other composers in unheard duet in Gibraltar.”
Tickets priced at 20 pounds each are now available from The House of Sacarello in Irish Town and The Silver Shop at 275 Main Street. Credit/debit card purchase is also available by phoning the Society on 20072134. A limited number of tickets are also available to Senior Citizens at a reduced price via The John Mackintosh Hall at 308 Main Street.
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