Martin Rajna
Conductor
Martin Rajna is one of the most outstanding young conductors emerging from Hungary in recent years. At the young age of 27, he was appointed as principal conductor of the Hungarian State Opera in 2023. As the chief conductor of the Győr Philharmonic Orchestra, he also regularly appears as a guest conductor with other leading symphony orchestras of Hungary, in addition to several orchestras across Europe.
In the 2024/25 season, Rajna is scheduled for several major international debuts: the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Luxembourg Philharmonic, the Orchestra of Teatro La Fenice, the Nürnberg Symphony Orchestra, and will also appear on the podium in the Tyrol Festival in Erl, in a new production of Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle and Poulenc’s La Voix humaine, both directed by Claus Guth.
For the Hungarian State Opera in Budapest, he is slated to conduct productions of Der fliegende Holländer, Macbeth, Die Fledermaus, Maria Stuarda and Cavalleria Rusticana. He will also return to conduct concerts with the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra and the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Rajna’s previous awards include a scholarship in 2022 to participate in the Forum Dirgieren programme of the German Music Council and he was also selected for the Conducting Fellowship of the Lucerne Festival Academy where his mentor was Thomas Adés. In 2018, he won Hungary’s Junior Prima Award and most recently in 2023 he was the winner of the György Cziffra Festival Talent Prize.
In recent seasons, Rajna has conducted the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, the Hof Symphony Orchestra, the Brandenburgisches Staatsorchester, the Philharmonie Südwestfalen, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra of Slovenia in Ljubljana and orchestras in Budapest such as the MÁV, Danubia and Dohnányi Symphony Orchestras.
For the Hungarian State Opera, he made his debut in 2021 with Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, and since then he conducted Verdi’s Attila, Rossini’s L'italiana in Algeri and Il barbiere di Siviglia, Strauss’ Die Fledermaus and Mozart’s Don Giovanni.
Martin Rajna graduated from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he studied with Ádám Medveczky and András Ligeti. Currently, he is finishing his training at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar under conductors Nicolás Pasquet and Ekhart Wycik. In 2021 he was selected to participate in the mentoring programme of the Peter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation, where he worked with such masters as Péter Eötvös, György Kurtág, Fabián Panisello and Magnus Lindberg. In 2023 he was assistant conductor for Ádám Fischer during the annual “Budapest Wagner Days”.
