Gábor Hontvári

In the current season, Hontvári will appear as a guest conductor at the at the Hungarian State Opera Budapest, leading significant productions, such as Bizet’s Carmen, Puccini’s La Bohème and Mozart’s Don Giovanni. He will return for symphonic concerts to the most prestigious Hungarian orchestras, like the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the National Philharmonic Orchestra. Hontvári is also looking forward to several appearances in Germany with the Mecklenburgische Staatskapelle Schwerin, the Augsburger Philharmoniker, and the Deutsche Philharmonie Merck.

Over the past few years, Hontvári appeared with several of Germany’s leading orchestras, including the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the WDR Symphony Orchestra, the Gürzenich Orchestra Cologne, the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, the Southwest German Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Folkwang Kammerorchester Essen. He has collaborated with many internationally renowned soloists and performed in some of Europe’s most prestigious concert halls. In 2017, he conducted the Bayerische Kammerphilharmonie on their tour in South Korea. In 2021, he made his debut at the Elbphilharmonie with the Hamburger Camerata, and in 2022, he conducted the Northwest German Philharmonic Orchestra at the Het Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In 2026 he made his Italian debut, conducting the Orchestra of Teatro la Fenice, Venice, leading the production of Tschaikovsky´s Nutcracker.

In Hungary, Hontvári is a sought-after guest conductor for the country’s leading orchestras, including Budapest’s National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, MÁV Symphony Orchestra, and the Danubia Symphony Orchestra. Elsewhere in Hungary, he has conducted the Győr Philharmonic Orchestra and the Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra. In 2023, he conducted the Hungarian State Opera on their successful tour to Dubai, where he led the production of Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.

Hontvári has won prizes at international conducting competitions: In 2020, he was awarded 2nd prize at the IX. Sir Georg Solti International Conductors' Competition in Frankfurt. In 2019, he achieved 2nd place at the Deutscher Dirigentenpreis Competition in Cologne. In the same year, he went on to receive the Audience Choice Award at the Campus Dirigieren Competition for German Universities in Nuremberg. He was the winner of the 7th Conducting Competition for the Middle-German Universities in 2015.

He obtained his master’s degree and completed postgraduate courses in orchestral conducting at the esteemed Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar, under the guidance of professors Nicolás Pasquet and Ekhart Wycik. In 2015, he graduated with a joint-honours bachelor degree in choral and orchestral conducting from the Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music in Budapest. Since 2016, Hontvári has been a scholarship-holder at the German Music Council’s Conductors’ Forum (Forum Dirigieren des Deutschen Musikrates). In 2018, he was awarded the Ernst-von Schuch Prize, which is an annual award given by the Forum to the most promising young conductor in Germany. In 2022, he received a scholarship from the Richard Wagner Verband, attending the Bayreuther Festspiele. That same year, he was awarded the Junior Prima Prize, Hungary’s most prestigious award for young artists under the age of 30.

In addition to his extensive symphonic repertoire, Hontvári has a rich and varied opera portfolio. During his tenure as General Music Direktor in Nordhausen and Kapellmeister at the Mainfranken Theatre Würzburg, he not only conducted regular repertoire pieces but also led numerous successful new productions. He also has served as guest conductor at the Staatsoperette Dresden, the Musiktheater im Revier, the Theater Kiel, the Mecklenburgisches Staatstheater and Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe.