Tamas Vasary obituary

"The Hungarian pianist Tamas Vasary, who has died aged 92, was highly regarded for his elegance and clarity of execution in music by Chopin and Vasary's compatriot Liszt. His first concerts in the early 1960s, in London, New York and other major cities such as Milan, Vienna and Berlin, gave promise of a new talent that was exciting for its poetic expressivity rather than for daredevil virtuosity."

"From an early age he had aspired to the podium, too, and having studied conducting in Vienna and London, he eventually, in 1971, was able to make his conducting debut at the Menton festival, on the French Riviera. In 1979 he became musical director of the Northern Sinfonia (later Royal Northern Sinfonia), based in Newcastle upon Tyne, by which point he was devoting as much attention to conducting as to playing."

Tamas Vasary was a Hungarian pianist and conductor celebrated for elegant, clear performances of Chopin and Liszt. Early 1960s concerts in London, New York, Milan, Vienna and Berlin revealed poetic expressivity rather than daredevil virtuosity. His repertoire also included Debussy, Mozart, Bach, Beethoven, Schumann, Rachmaninov concertos and Brahms chamber music, yet he continually returned to Chopin and Liszt. He studied conducting in Vienna and London and made his conducting debut at the Menton festival in 1971. He led the Northern Sinfonia from 1979, later directed the Bournemouth Sinfonietta and the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and founded the Kodaly Zoltan World Youth Orchestra in 2006.

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