Daniel Boico, Music Director and Chief Conductor

Described by critics as "Dynamic, vigorous, exciting and imaginative - an undisputed star who combines magnetic charisma with a skilled technique," Israeli-American conductor Daniel Boico is the Music Director and Chief Conductor of the MÁV Szimfonikus Zenekar since September 2019. Daniel is also the Associate Guest Conductor of the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic in Durban, South Africa. Daniel was Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic, 2009-2011, where he debuted with the orchestra in 2009, sharing the podium with Riccardo Muti, Associate Guest Conductor of the KwaZulu-Natal Philharmonic in Durban, South Africa. Daniel was Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic, 2009-2011, where he debuted with the orchestra in 2009, sharing the podium with Riccardo Muti, followed by his subscription concert debut in April 2011, when he replaced Kurt Masur on short notice in what the New York Times called "a smoldering performance" of Sofia Gubaidulina's Two Paths: A dedication to Mary and Martha for two violas and orchestra.

Born in Israel to musician parents and raised in both Paris and the United States (Daniel’s father, Fima Boico, was Principal Second Violins in the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Concertmaster of Orchestre de Paris and is currently the second violinist of the Fine Arts Quartet) Daniel initially received his training as a singer, and later was a student of legendary Russian conductor and professor Ilya Musin at the Saint Petersburg Conservatory. A finalist and, prize-winner at the Prokofiev, Pedrotti, and Cadaques International Conducting Competitions, Daniel was also Music Director of the Skokie Valley Symphony Orchestra, Chicago, and visiting professor and director of orchestras at the Grand Valley State University in Michigan. Earlier in his career, Daniel was apprentice conductor, and later assistant, to Daniel Barenboim at the Chicago Symphony, where he worked closely with such guest conductors as Pierre Boulez and Zubin Mehta..

Daniel has recorded Nino Rota’s two cello concerti with I Virtuosi Italiani for the Chandos label, and Kalinnikov’s Symphony No. 1 for the Bayerische Rundfunk with the Nürnberger Symphoniker. Special projects have included serving as Cover Conductor to Lorin Maazel on Chicago Symphony Orchestra's Asia tour to Taiwan, China and Korea. As an educator of young musicians, Daniel is a frequent guest conductor at DePaul University, Chicago, and a private conducting teacher. Daniel has performed withsuch distinguished orchestrasas the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra of London, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester BerlinIsrael Philharmonic Orchestra, Nürnberger Symphoniker, National Symphony Orchestras of Taiwan and Mexico, San Francisco and Perm ballets, Moscow Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, and the Cape Town and Johannesburg Philharmonics. Daniel has collaborated with such fine soloists as Itzhak Perlman, Gil Shaham, Daniel Barenboim, Gary Hoffman, Andreas Ottensamer, Nikolay Lugansky, Aviram Reichert, Daniel Ciobanu, Alexander Buzlov, Olga Kern, and Francois du Toit.

Recent and upcoming engagements include a debut with the Tyumen Philharmonic Orchestra, Russia, and a return to the Meistersinger Halle with the Nürnberger Symphoniker.

FOTÓ: ÉDER VERA

Kesselyák Gergely, Conductor

He was born in Budapest in 1971. He graduated from Piarist Secondary Schoolof Budapest in 1989 and obtained his degree in conducting at Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music as a student of Ervin Lukács in 1995. During his years as an undergraduate he took part in Yuri Simonovs Master classes twice. He won third price at the Arturo Toscanini International Conducting Competition in Parma (1994) and at the Hungarian Television International Conductors Competition in Budapest (1995).
Since 1993 he has regularly conducted the leading symphony orchestras in Hungary: the National Philharmonic Orchestra, the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra the Symphony Orchestra of the Hungarian Radio and Television, the Matáv Symphony Orchestra and the MÁV Symphony Orchestra. Between 1995 and 1997 he was the the leader of the Hungarian Youth Radio Orchestra. In 1997 he founded the opera division of the Miskolc National Theatre and was its music director until 2002. In 2001 he was the founder music director of the Bartók+ International Opera Festival, a position he held for three years. From 1997 he was guest conductor, from 2001 conductor-in-residence of the Hungarian State Opera. In 2004 he was appointed artistic director of the BudaFest Summer Opera and Ballet Festival where he worked for four years. From 2005 to 2012 he was artistic director of the Szeged Open-Air Festival. Between 2005 and 2006 he held the position of music director at the Hungarian State Opera. Since 1993 he has conducted more than one hundred performances in ten different music theatres (Hungarian State Opera House, Budapest Operetta and Musical Theatre, Hungarian Opera of Cluj-Napoca, National Theatre of Szeged, National Theatre of Miskolc, Csokonai National Theatre in Debrecen, Szigliget Theatre in Szolnok, Petőfi Theatre in Veszprém, National Theatre of Győr, National Theatre of Pécs)
Since 2011 he has been Director of the Bartók+ Opera Festival. In 2013 he founded the Bartók+ Opera Composition Competition. Since 2016 he has been principal conductor of the Hungarian State Opera. He has worked as a guest conductor in several countries
(Ukraine, Romania, Austria, Italy, France, Spain, Egypt, Japan, Chile, Peru, Oman, China). Since 1999 he has been active as a stage director, as well, and has staged Verdi's Rigoletto, Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, Bartók's Duke Bluebeard's Castle, Puccini's Turandot; Tosca and Verdi's Nabucco. The production of Don Giovanni directed by him ran for 8 years at the Hungarian State Opera House. In 2005 he was awarded the Liszt Prize. In 2012 he became a Meritorious Artist.
Gergely Kesselyák has been the conductor of the MÁV Symphony Orchestra since September 2010.

FOTÓ: KELEMEN GERGŐ

Kobayashi Ken-Ichiro, Honorary Guest Conductor

Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi won the International Conductors’ Competition of the Hungarian Television (MTV) in the spring of 1974, more than 40 years ago. The MÁV Symphony Orchestra was the first orchestra that he directed outside his home country, thereby starting his international career. The Maestro has been on a roll ever since, but he still has a special connection to our orchestra. He is our returning guest, whose presence brighten every concert for our audience and is an inspiration for the members of our orchestra. He directed dozens of MÁV Symphony Orchestra concerts in our different series, on numerous occasions in Japan, thereby enhancing the reputation of our country and the founder of our orchestra
On the spring of 2014, Kobayashi celebrated the 40th anniversary of winning the MTV Conductors’ Competition with a large-scale concert series. He gave seven concerts in three weeks in Hungary, with the participation of the most famous Hungarian philharmonics. He directed our orchestra on the gala concert of the series, where the president and chief executive officer of MÁV Zrt., Ilona Dávid awarded Ken-Ichiro Kobayashi the prestigious ‘Vasútért’ prize.
The MÁV Symphony Orchestra deeply values the Master’s friendship. As a token of mutual appreciation, since the 2014-15 season, we welcome him to the podium as honorary guest conductor.

FOTÓ: RÓZSA ZSUZSANNA

Péter Csaba, Permanent Guest Conductor

He was born in 1952 in Cluj-Napoca. He started playing the violin at age five, and studied the violin, composing and conducting at the Porumbescu Conservatory of Music in Bucharest. He was successful at numerous international competitions (e.g. Paganini Competition, Genova), and regularly performed in concerts as a violinist. Several years later, he debuted as a conductor as well. Péter Csaba is a musician who travels the world; he entered the stage in more than 80 countries.
Since 1983, he lives in Lyon, France. He is the founder and conductor of the Solistes de Lyon and the Finnish Virtuosi di Kuhmo chamber orchestras, and was the artistic director of the Lapland Festival (Sweden) and the Musica Vitae. His initiative to support young musical talents started in Sweden and was further developed in Spain, in the framework of the Ecuentro de Música Y Academia Festival in Santander. By means of this endeavor, he had the opportunity to introduce himself to a great number of brilliant young musicians (including Hungarians). In recognition of his outstanding work in Sweden, he was elected to become a member of the Royal Swedish Academy. He is a professor and head of the orchestra class at the National Conservatory of Music and Dance of Lyon. Between 1994 and 2010, he was the director and permanent conductor of the Besançon Symphony Orchestra. He teaches masterclasses in several countries. He has numerous records; the one with the works of the composer Sibelius, recorded in 1994 in Finland, was chosen best classical record of the year in the US. In the past few years, he conducted the MÁV Symphony Orchestra on numerous records. He worked together with a number of contemporary composers, for example with Krzysztof Penderecki, Alfred Schnittke, Henry Dutilleux, Sofija Gubajdulina and György Kurtág, many of whom dedicated their compositions to him. He entered the podium with artists like Pierre Fournier, Natalia Gutman, Dimitrij Bashkirov, Truls Moerk, Teresa Berganza, Oleg Kagan, Christian Zimmermann, Tabea Zimmermann, James Galway, Menahem Pressler, Zoltán Kocsis, Miklós Perényi, Dezső Ránki, Jenő Jandó, Péter Frankl, Dénes Várjon, Albert Simon, Kristóf Baráti, László Fenyő and István Várdai.
Since 2012, Péter Csaba has been the artistic director and chief conductor of the MÁV Symphony Orchestra.
In 2017, he received the Legion of Honour (Knight class) from the President of the French Republic for his contribution to the French culture and music, and was awarded the Order of the White Rose of Finland for his outstanding musical and artistic activity in Finland.

Gábor Takács-Nagy Permanent Guest Conductor

He was born in 1956, and became world-famous by the string quartet associated with his name. The quartet received a scholarship to Colorado in the United State, and its members settled there. Gábor Takács-Nagy left the quartet in 1992 and moved back to Europe. Since then, he has been living in Switzerland and is a professor at the Haute école de musique Genève – Neuchâtel (Geneva HEM). Besides, he is teaching chamber music masterclasses around the world. He also returned to Hungary: Between 1992 and 2001, he regularly played in the Budapest Festival Orchestra as a guest concertmaster. From 1999, he played in his newly established string quartet, Mikrokosmos, with which they recorded all of Bartók’s string quartets for the Bartók series of the Hungaroton Record Production company.
He has been conducting since 2002, debuting in Switzerland at the Sion Festival. He became the Music Director of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra (Switzerland) in 2007. From 2011, he has been the chief conductor of the Manchester Camerata. In the MÁV Symphony Orchestra, he has been directing the workshops of the string musicians and the new chamber orchestra series of the ensemble since 2005. He became the first guest conductor of our orchestra in September 2008, and between September 2010 and June 2012, he was the chief conductor and music director of the MÁV Symphony Orchestra. Between 2014 and 2016, he was a guest conductor at the Budapest Festival Orchestra.
He has been the permanent guest conductor of the MÁV Symphony Orchestra since 2018.