Born, raised and educated in the United States, Ivan Törzs has lived and worked in Europe since 1985, and has carved a career as one of the most versatile, cosmopolitan and experienced operatic conductors on the European scene. Fluent in nine languages, he is equally at home in German, French, Italian, Russian, Spanish or American repertoire. Whether conducting Wagner’s Ring, a bel canto opera of Bellini or a Spanish zarzuela, he brings to all his interpretations a deep understanding of the culture, literature, and vocal and musical traditions that shaped the creation of that work.
Ivan Törzs comes from a family with a long theatrical tradition. His grandfather was one of the most celebrated Hungarian actors of the pre-war generation; his father was also an actor, his mother a Flamenco dancer. After obtaining a degree in Mathematics from Princeton University, Törzs, by that time already an accomplished pianist, studied orchestral and choral conducting at the Mannes College of Music and at the Juilliard School.
In 1985 Ivan Törzs moved to Europe, and in 1993, after working as a coach and conductor at Hamburg State Opera and the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, he was appointed Principal Conductor and Artistic Director of the Mecklenburg State Theatre in Schwerin, Germany, a position he held until 2002. The Berliner Morgenpost wrote of his work, “Under his direction, the Schwerin Opera is again approaching the great era in which Klaus Tennstedt or Kurt Masur led the orchestra.” The Association of German Music Publishers presented him with the award for the best concert programming in Germany for the 1994-95 season; the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung called the production of Fidelio which opened his first season as Artistic Director “a courageous deed”, and Opernwelt hailed his Otello as one of his “many Verdi performances that show courage and set standards.” The Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) said that his conducting of Tristan und Isolde “verged on the miraculous.” In Schwerin he led the theatre’s first-ever performances of Wozzeck, L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, Il Prigioniero, La Vida Breve, Idomeneo, Erwartung, A Kékszakállú Herceg Vára (Bluebeard’s Castle), Messaien’s Turangalila Symphony, Stravinsky’s Sacre du Printemps, Ives’ 2nd Symphony and many other works.
In 2000, Ivan Törzs made his début at the Flanders Opera (de Vlaamse Opera) in Antwerp, Belgium, conducting Tschaikovski’s Pikovaya Dama. The resounding success led to his appointment as Music Director in 2002, a position which he held through July 2008. Here he led performances of numerous works, including La Traviata, Luisa Miller, Il Pirata, Carmen, Salome, Ariadne auf Naxos, Arabella, and Fidelio, finally crowning his tenure in Antwerp with a new production of Wagner’s Ring which ran from May 2006 to July 2008, to critical and audience acclaim. Opernglas described his reading of Siegfried as “unusually elegant” while Opernnetz called his Götterdämerung “sensational.”
As a guest conductor Ivan Törzs made his début at the Vienna State Opera with L’elisir d’amore, and at the Hamburg State Opera with Il Barbiere di Siviglia. He has appeared at the opera houses of Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Strasbourg, Nuremberg, Prague, Budapest, Nancy, Miami, Münster, Spoleto and many other cities. In 2004 he conducted the live international telecast concert of the laureates of Belgium’s Queen Elisabeth Competition. He conducted Der fliegende Holländer with the NDR Orchestra Hannover, led concert programs with the Hamburger Sinfoniker and toured with the Israeli Kibbutz Chamber Orchestra. With the Russian National Orchestra he led the Russian première of Brahms’ Piano Quartet in g-minor in Arnold Schoenberg’s orchestration. He conducted the concert finales of the Spoleto Festival USA and the Macao Festival, and is a regular guest conductor of the Honolulu Symphony. In Honolulu he also conducted the first performance anywhere of Tristan und Isolde in the new millennium – an event which Wolfgang Wagner flew to Hawaii to attend. For their Millennium Gala 2000, the Budapest Opera invited Ivan Törzs to conduct Bluebeard’s Castle, representing the many ethnically Hungarian conductors living outside of Hungary. In 2005 he conducted the first concert of Wagner’s music ever given in Tirana, Albania. Owing to Törzs’ experience and deep understanding of the art of singing, some of the most renowned operatic personalities have chosen to perform new roles under his baton. Renata Scotto sang her first Kundry with him, Helen Donath her first Desdemona, and Cheryl Studer her first Senta.
When not on the podium, Ivan Törzs is in demand as a pianist. With artists such as Kurt Moll, Edda Moser, Cheryl Studer and Theo Adam, he has played Liederabende in the Deutsche Oper Berlin, the Semperoper Dresden, Cologne Opera, RAI Torino, Palermo, Catania, Asolo et al. With Günter von Kannen, he gave two television broadcasts of Ballads by Schubert and Loewe for the Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR.)
A short summary of Ivan Törzs’ work at the Vlaamse Opera can be found at the following link:
http://vlaamseopera.be/persondetailview.orb?prs=410
Recordings:
Wagner: “Die Walküre,” Act I, w. Edda Moser, Mark Lundberg, Frode Olsen, (Calig Records) “Musik der mecklenburgischen Hofkapelle” w. Mecklenburgische Staatskapelle Schwerin: works of Vivaldi, Künzel, Sperger et al. Mozart, Jörns: Concerti for Wind Quintet and Orch. w. Rossetti Wind Quintet Mozart, Danzi: Piano and Wind Quintets w. Rossetti Wind Quintet “Weihnachtsmärchen” Piano works of Bach, Schumann et al. (Lübbe Verlag) „Der Mond ist aufgegangen“ Piano works of Bach, Beethoven, Chopin (Lübbe Verlag)