Hungarian Violinist and Conductor Tibor Varga Died in 2003

Maestro Varga is remembered as one of the pre-eminent violinists of the 20th Century

Hungarian violinist and conductor Tibor Varga died on this day in 2003 – aged 82.

Varga was born in 1921 in Győr, Hungary, and took his first violin lessons at the age of two and a half with his father Lajos Varga. He also later studied with Carl Flesch.

Prominent violinist Jenő Hubay noticed Varga's talent and encouraged him to enroll at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest. Varga was just ten years old. There, he studied with Hubay,  Zoltán Kodály, and Leó Weiner.

After Hubay's death in 1937, Varga was chosen as a soloist for the memorial concert, playing Hubay's 3rd Violin Concerto op. 99. Composer and conductor Ernő Dohnányi directed the concert, who had become Hubay's successor as the Rector of the Liszt Academy.

On completion of his musical studies at the Liszt Music Academy, Varga devoted himself throughout the war to studying philosophy at the Budapest University.

He is especially known for his interpretations of concerti by Béla Bartók, Alban Berg, and Arnold Schoenberg — works that were new to the repertoire at the time.

Later on in his career, Varga also began to see success as a conductor. He is credited with co-founding the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold and the Festival Orchestra Tibor Varga in Sion.

Varga is remembered as one of the pre-eminent violinists of the 20th Century.

TIBOR VARGA | MOZART | RONDO | TIBOR VARGA CHAMBER ORCHESTRA | 1958