Péter Halász

Péter Halász studied piano and composition in his home town of Budapest and trained as a conductor in the class of Prof. Leopold Hager at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. In Lucerne he attended master classes with Bernard Haitink. He assisted Adam Fischer in several opera productions. His first engagements took him to the International Opera Studio at Zurich Opera as a répétiteur and from 2003 to 2011 to the Staatstheater Mainz as répétiteur and later as Kapellmeister. For the 2011/12 season, he moved to the Aachen Theatre as Deputy General Music Director. As General Music Director of the Hungarian State Opera Budapest (2013 to 2016), Péter Halász conducted numerous opera premieres, including the Hungarian premieres of R. Strauss' "Die Frau ohne Schatten" and Thomas Adès' "The Tempest" as well as Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen", among others. He continues to be associated with the Hungarian State Opera as a guest conductor, including leading the revival of Strauss' "Ariadne auf Naxos" in Budapest during the 2022/23 season. He has conducted gala concerts with singers such as Plácido Domingo, Angela Gheorghiu, Piotr Beczala, Vesselina Kasarova and Ferruccio Furlanetto. He is a regular guest with Hungarian symphony orchestras, including the Hungarian National Philharmonic and the Budapest Philharmonic. He has made guest appearances at opera houses such as the Hamburg State Opera (Puccini's "Manon Lescaut" as well as Mozart's "The Abduction from the Seraglio" and "Don Giovanni"), the Baden State Theatre in Karlsruhe, the Kassel State Theatre and the Saarland State Theatre. His premieres in recent seasons include "Madama Butterfly" (Puccini) at the Bern Theatre (2020), "Die Entführung aus dem Serail" at the Hungarian State Opera (2021), and "La Cenerentola" (Rossini) at the Latvian National Opera in Riga (2021).In 2017 he was awarded the Golden Cross of Merit of the Republic of Hungary for his musical work. At the invitation of Peter Eötvös, he taught as a guest professor at The Peter Eötvös Foundation Conducting Master Course. Since the 2021/22 season, Péter Halász has been Kapellmeister at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein, where he has conducted Mozart's "The Magic Flute", Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel" and Bizet's "Carmen", among others. In the 2022/23 season, he will take over the musical direction of Cilea's "Adriana Lecouvreur", Tchaikovsky's "The Maid of Orleans", Donizetti's "L'elisir d'amore", J. Strauss' "Die Fledermaus" and once again the ballet evening "Four New Temperaments".

Homepage: www.peter-halasz.com