Gábor HOLLERUNG was born on 18 August 1954 in Budapest. A holder of the Liszt Prize, he is a conductor, choral conductor, artist of merit, the managing musical director of the Budafok Dohnányi Orchestra, the leading conductor of the Budapest Academic Choral Society, artistic director of the Zemplén Festival, founder and artistic director of the Budapest International Choir Competition, and founder and director of the Dohnányi Academy International Conductors’ Course.
He studied conducting and choral conducting at the Liszt Academy of Music, where his teachers were Zoltán Vásárhelyi , István Párkai, and András Kórodi, then later he continued his training in masterclasses with Eric Ericson, Kurt Masur, and László Somogyi.
Between 1979 and 1981 he was second conductor of the Miskolc Symphony Orchestra, between 1981 and 1983 he taught music theory, music history, and conducting at the Janus Pécsi Janus Pannonius University of Sciences in Pécs, and conducted the women’s choir there. From 2001 to 2008 he was the musical director, and later the artistic director, of the Honvéd Ensemble. From 1989 to 2000 he was chief conductor of the Budapest Dohnányi Orchestra, and since 2001 he has also been the orchestra’s managing musical director.
He is also an active conductor abroad. Between 2002 and 2005 he was the first guest conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and from 2002 to 2007 he was musical consultant to the Philharmonia Singers Tel Aviv. In addition to performing with many European orchestras, he has appeared as guest conductor with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra, the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, the Guangzhou Symphony Orchestra, and the National Symphony Orchestra, Taiwan.
Awards: Artist of Merit (2015), Jerusalem Prize (2006), Liszt Prize (2004), Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (2002).