GergelyMadaras
- Conductor


About Gergely
Music Director: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Gergely is Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège. This season includes returns to the WDR Sinfonieorchester, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Hamburger Symphoniker, Orchestre de Chambre de Paris, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and the Norwegian Radio Orchestra; he makes debuts with the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic and George Enescu Philharmonic.
Recent symphonic highlights include performances with the Budapest Festival Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Philharmonic, Hallé Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Bournemouth Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestre Philharmonique de Monte-Carlo, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, Sao Paulo State Symphony and with Il Pomo d’Oro and Joyce DiDonato at the Concertgebouw Hall, as part of the ‘EDEN’ tour.
Gergely was the inaugural Sir Charles Mackerras Fellow at the English National Opera, which culminated in his operatic debut at the London Coliseum with a new production of Die Zauberflöte with stage director Simon McBurney. Since then, he has conducted critically-acclaimed productions at the Dutch National Opera, Grand Théâtre de Genève and La Monnaie. Last season he returned to the Hungarian State for La bohème.
Contact
For availability and general enquiries:

Laura Baker
For contracts, logistics and press:

Jemima Pickersgill
Representation
Worldwide general management with Askonas Holt
Local management with Amati Tokyo (Japan)
Season Highlights
Video
- Playing
Gergely Madaras conducts Bartók 'Concerto for Orchestra'
Gergely Madaras conducts the Finale from Bartók 'Concerto for Orchestra' Credit: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Gergely Madaras conducts Ravel 'Daphnis et Chloé'
An excerpt of Gergely Madaras conducting Ravel 'Daphnis et Chloé' with the Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège Credit: Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège
Gergely Madaras, a portrait by Thierry Dory
As the ninth Music Director of the Orchestre Philharmonieque Royal de Liège from 1st September 2019, the young Hungarian conductor Gergely Madaras is the central figure of a documentary filmed by the Belgian director Thierry Dory. Credit: Orchestre Philharmonieque Royal de Liège
Gergely Madaras conducts the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Recorded live at the Palace of Arts, Budapest Credit: Public Service for the Hungarian Culture Foundation and the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Photos
News
Press
Wagner & Mahler
Orchestre Philharmonique de LiègeSep 2023…sous la baguette inventive et complice de Gergely Madaras, la parade fut parfaite. Un concert d’ouverture de saison est toujours un événement pour un orchestre puisqu’il offre aux musiciens l’occasion de retrouver leur public, mais celui de la saison 2023-2024 restera particulièrement dans les mémoires pour son excellence et sa dimension jubilatoire... et au chef hongrois de rappeler comme il est un conteur extraordinaire, capable de montrer dans chaque thème la perspective d’aventures nouvelles… Dans le premier mouvement, Madaras emmène le public dans une belle construction du récit, tandis que le deuxième lui permet, en étroite symbiose avec ses musiciens, d’affirmer son sens de la danse et sa maîtrise de la polyphonie. …under the inventive and complicit baton of Gergely Madaras, the parade was perfect. A season-opening concert is always an event for an orchestra, as it gives the musicians a chance to reunite with their audience, but the one for the 2023-2024 season will be particularly remembered for its excellence and its jubilant dimension... and for the Hungarian conductor to recall what an extraordinary storyteller he is, capable of showing in each theme the prospect of new adventures... In the first movement, Madaras takes the audience through a beautifully constructed narrative, while the second allows him, in close symbiosis with his musicians, to assert his sense of dance and his mastery of polyphony.
- Nicolas Blanmont, La Libre Belgique
- 18 September 2023
Shostakovich 'The Nose'
Royal Danish Theatre with La Monnaie Orchestra & ChoirsJun 2023[Madaras] ha regalato un’esecuzione chiarissima in tutti i suoi dettagli, straordinariamente coesa nella sua complessità, fatta di una affascinante mescolanza di stili, tra tonalità e atonalità, forti dissonanze, canto lirico e motivi popolari slavi. [Madaras] gave a very clear performance in all its details, extraordinarily cohesive in its complexity, made up of a fascinating mix of styles, between tonality and atonality, strong dissonances, lyrical singing and Slavic folk motifs.
- Alma Torretta, Il Giornale Della Musica
- 26 June 2023
...la direction musicale non seulement enlevée et percutante, mais aussi très attentive à la réalisation des moindres détails de Gergely Madaras [...] il est aussi un excellent chef d’opéra[...] il possède, outre la maîtrise de son plateau, et le soutien apporté à chaque voix, une battue très précise doublée d’une précision indéfectible dans la distribution des attaques; et surtout il y a ce sens de la courbe globale de la partition et de la gestion quasi épique de la narration et du temps musical. ...Gergely Madaras' musical direction is not only lively and powerful, but also very attentive to the smallest details [...] he is also an excellent opera conductor [...] In addition to his command of the stage and the support given to each voice, he has a very precise baton coupled with unfailing precision in the distribution of attacks; and above all there is his sense of the overall curve of the score and the almost epic management of narration and musical time.
- Benedict Hévry, Res Musica
- 08 July 2023
Hij dirigeerde het werk strak met effectieve passie[...] Een waarlijk overtuigende prestatie. He conducted the work tightly with effective passion [...] A truly convincing performance.
- Lennaert Van Anken, Place de l'Opera
- 08 July 2023
Sissoko, Moultaka & Adams
Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio FranceMay 2023Sous la direction du remarquable Gergely Madaras, les cordes de l'Orchestre de Radio France et le premier violon Nathan Mierdl nous ont offert une interprétation ciselée et vibrante d'une œuvre du minimalisme américain. Under the direction of the remarkable Gergely Madaras, the strings of the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France and first violin Nathan Mierdl offered us a chiselled and vibrant interpretation of a great work of American minimalism.
- Hannah Starman, Toute La Culture
- 06 May 2023
Bartok & Ligeti
Orchestre de chambre de ParisMar 2023Dans une pâte prodigue, l'excellent Gergely Madaras, que l'on retrouve avec tant de plaisir [...] Sous cette baguette, tonicité et suavité se conjuguent tout naturellement [...] Un très, très beau concert ! The excellent Gergely Madaras, who we have discovered with great pleasure [...] Under his baton, he creates a natural sweetness of tone [...] A very, very nice concert !
- Bertrand Bolognesi, Anaclause
- 04 March 2023
Mahler
City of Birmingham Symphony OrchestraJan 2023**** Blumine, the idyllic interlude that was omitted from the final four-movement version of his First Symphony, opened the concert, while the symphony itself took up the second half. Madaras’s relaxed, affectionate treatment of the fragment suggested what his fine performance of the symphony later confirmed: that he is a sensitive Mahlerian who does not impose his ideas on the music too prescriptively but allows it to follow its natural trajectory, without ever curbing its ambition or, in the finale, downplaying its spectacular theatrics.
- Andrew Clements, The Guardian
- 13 January 2023
Scriabin
Philharmonia OrchestraJun 2023***** Gergely Madaras was the impressive, authoritative conductor, keeping a grip on this seething multicoloured ocean of orchestral sound.
- Fiona Maddocks, The Guardian
- 11 June 2022
Sibelius, Dove & Dvořák
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra DebutDec 2021**** Gergely Madaras did a wonderful job conducting. And in the performances of Sibelius’s Finlandia and Dvorak’s New World Symphony, he turned the orchestra into an entire world.
- Rebecca Franks, The Times
- 10 December 2021
Dvořák & Martinů
Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de LiègeJul 2021Julien-Laferrière and Madaras could hardly be more ideally suited[...] It’s bracing, it’s thoughtful, it’s never less than engaging.
- Richard, Bratby, Gramophone Magazine
- 01 July 2021
Beethoven
Hallé OrchestraMar 2020**** [It was] conducted with unaffected straightforwardness by young Hungarian conductor Gergely Madaras. He [...] scraped the dust of habit from classical music’s signal masterpiece, and made it glow anew.
- Ivan Hewitt, The Telegraph
- 12 March 2020
Madaras’s confident interpretation of this alluring and enduringly popular score was neat and precise, yet never felt underpowered. Setting the tone was the playing of the bold opening movement that felt focused with an ideal tempo and no shortage of intensity generated. One of my most beloved episodes in all Beethoven’s symphonies is the Andante con moto where Madaras paced the movement impeccably, creating a gratifying level of tenderness. As impressive as I have heard for some time, the playing of the Finale delivered a rewarding sense of resolution to this magnificent symphony.
- Michael Cookson, Seen and Heard International
- 16 March 2020
Langer, Shostakovich & Dohnanyi
BBC Scottish Symphony OrchestraFeb 2020**** The conductor Gergely Madaras drew out the details beautifully, then picked up his sculptor’s chisel for the granite architecture of Erno von Dohnanyi’s First Symphony.
- Simon Thompson, The Times
- 17 February 2020
**** Under Hungarian conductor Gergely Madaras, humour [...] and atmosphere [...] were vying qualities in an effervescent performance.
- Ken Walton, The Scotsman
- 14 February 2020
Mahler
BBC Symphony Orchestra debutDec 2019**** ...Gergely Madaras proved himself full of imagination in his reading, revelling in the piece’s shifting colours and moods.
- Rebecca Franks, The Times
- 16 December 2019
Boesmans
Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de LiègeSep 2019From end to end, Gegerly Madaras, the new head of the OPRL excels at capturing the changing atmospheres and giving the works their energetic dynamism. A superb recording!
- S.M., Le Soir
- 26 September 2019
Handel 'Israel in Egypt'
Academy of Ancient Music & BBC SingersMay 2019Madaras successfully drew alert contrasts between Handelian ceremony, narrative impetus, and a rarefied integration of textures for more serious or reflective numbers... Grandeur and breadth were by no means missing from this account [...] but it was the unusually alive aspect of Madaras's re-telling that stood out.
- Curtis Rogers, Classical Source
- 10 May 2019
Dohnanyi, Kodaly & Borodin
BBC Scottish Symphony OrchestraOct 2018...Madaras drew every ounce of gypsy passion and rustic nuance from Kodaly's Dances of Galánta, a work defined by its infectious rhythmic kicks, characterising wind solos and a blistering sense of Magyar zeal...
- Ken Walton, The Scotsman
- 13 October 2018