Imre KOLLÁR Chief Conductor and Artistic Director

Imre Kollár’s reputation holds him as one of the most dynamic, energetic, exciting new young conductors of Hungary. He is the Music Director and Chief Conductor of the MAV Symphony Orchestra, one of the leading Orchestras in Hungary. He regularly conducts around the world, has been appointed as Guest Conductor to orchestras in Italy, Greece, Egypt, Germany, England, Switzerland, Austria, USA, Australia, Mexico, Canada and Japan.

In addition, he has conducted a number of prestigious orchestras as the  Hungarian Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the Hungarian Radio, The New Japan Philharmonic and The Wiener Kammerorchester. He has also worked with numerous outstanding soloists: Vadim Repin, Dezsö Ránki, Zoltán Kocsis, Dimitris Sgouros and Jenő Jandó, Alexander Markov, Robert Bokor, to name but a few. 

Imre Kollár is also an experienced Opera Conductor. He regularly is asked to conduct The Hungarian State Opera and is the Permanent Guest Conductor of the Debrecen Opera. Recently, he was invited to conduct Mozart’s Opera The Magic Flute in Brussels, Belgium, Germany.
Since  1995 he annually presents an in-depth seminar in Japan focussing on the artistic life and oeuvres of Bartók and Kodály and historic traditions of Hungarian chorus cultures. 

His repertoire is extensive spanning from Bach to Stravinsky and includes Haydn, Richard Strauss, Rachmaninoff and Bruckner. He has garnered an outstanding reputation as a well-known interpreter of the works of Mozart and Bartók.

Kollár ‘s first CD was issued in 1995, which contains Symphony No. 36  and a Piano Concerto No. 21 of Mozart with the young Hungarian pianist Gergely Bogányi. He has several other CDs available including Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4, Beethoven’s Symphonie No. 3, and a wide number of selections from the Strauss Family. 

Imre Kollár was born in the West-Hungarian City of Szombathely in 1969. He has studied music from a very early age. In 1992, he received his diploma summa cum laude from the Hungarian Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest.  In addition, while studying for his conducting degree, he carried an additional major in Voice and Performance in Singing. 

He was the youngest Conductor ever to participant in the Sixth International Conductors Competition, which was held by the Hungarian Radio and Television in 1989.   He was awarded first place in the category of Special Prize of the Audience – “the newest talent in Hungary”. 

In June 1993, he was a finalist in the Toscanini Competition for Conductors in Parma, Italy. Shortly thereafter, he won the first prize of the Treviso International Conductors Competition. First prize was a scheduled two-month concert tour of Italy that enabled him to conduct a number of orchestras.  

In 1997, he was a finalist at the Bonn International Conductors Competition. Due to this resounding success, he was invited to be the Guest Conductor of several Orchestras in Germany: The Nieder-Rheinischen Sinfoniker, and Orchester der Beethovenhalle, where, among others he conducted Beethoven’s violin concerto with Vadim Repin.