Péter Halász was born in Budapest. After studying piano and composition under István Fekete Győr in his native city, he went on to study conducting under Leopold Hager and as an opera répétiteur Universität für Musik und darstellende Kunst in Wien. He graduated as conductor in 2001. He took master classes in Lucerne as a student of Bernard Haitink and was an assistant of Ádám Fischer at several festivals and opera houses. After completing his studies, he coached young singers as a member of the International Opera Studio at Opernhaus Zürich. Following this, he was engaged as a coach and conductor by Staatstheater Mainz where he worked between 2003 and 2011. For two years beginning with 2011, he was principal conductor and deputy music director of Theater Aachen and Sinfonieorchester Aachen.
He made his Hungarian State Opera debut with Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia and has been a recurring guest since. As music director of the OPERA between 2013 to 2016, he was responsible for many successful premieres including the Hungarian premiere R.Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten and the Eastern European premiere of Thomas Adès’ The Tempest. On his initiative the Orchestra Academy was founded for emerging musicians. Since the 2023/24 season, he has been principal guest conductor of the Hungarian State Opera.
He was engaged as principal conductor at Deutsche Oper am Rhein, Düsseldorf, where he conducted the premieres of The Maid of Orleans by Tchaikovsky and Adriana Lecouvreur by Cilea as well as Die Zauberflöte (Mozart), Hänsel und Gretel (Humperdinck), La traviata (Verdi), L’elisir d’amore (Donizetti), Carmen (Bizet), Tosca, Madama Butterfly (Puccini), and Die Fledermaus (J. Strauss II). He is also a recurring guest conductor at Staatsoper Hamburg, where he has conducted Manon Lescaut by Puccini and Die Entführung aus dem Serail for several years. He has appeared in several other German opera houses including Baadisches Staatstheater, Saarländisches Staatstheater, and Staatstheater Kassel. In 2020, he conducted the premiere of Puccini’s Madama Butterfly at Theater Bern, and in 2021, he was the conductor for the premiere of Rossini’s Cenerentola at the Latvian National Opera. In 2024, he conducted the romantic grand opera Lurline by William Wallace with the Irish National Symphony Orchestra. Numerous internationally renowned singers such as Ailyn Perez, Angela Gheorghiu, Anja Kampe, Vesselina Kasarova, Plácido Domingo, Piotr Beczała, Gregory Kunde, Ambrogio Maestri, and Ferruccio Furlanetto have performed under his baton. In 2024, the Hungarian State Opera gala performance of the Solti Accademia featuring Hera Park, Aigul Akhmetshina, Freddie De Tommaso, and Paul Grant was streamed live by Deutsche Grammophon Stage +, where the recording is still available.
Beside opera, he regularly conducts symphonic concerts in Hungary and abroad (National Philharmonic Orchestra, Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra, MÁV Orchestra, Budafok Dohnányi Orchestra, Óbuda Danubia Orchestra, Szeged Symphonic Orchestra, Radiosinfonieorchester Wien, Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg, Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, Sinfonieorchester Aachen, Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Mainz). He worked as a guest Professor at the Peter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation’s master course for conductors at the invitation of Peter Eötvös himself. In 2023/24, he held opera conducting courses as a visiting professor at Budapest’s Liszt Ferenc Academy of Music, and on the invitation of Éva Marton, he conducted the final and gala of the Fifth Éva Marton Singing Competition.
He is married and is the proud father of two children.
Conducting at the Hungarian State Opera:
Premieres:
Verdi: Falstaff; R. Strauss: Die Frau ohne Schatten; Mozart: Cosí fan tutte; Wagner: Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried; Weber: Der Freischütz; Adès: The Tempest; Mozart: Die Entführung aus dem Serail; Bach: Cross Cantatas; Dvořák: Rusalka; Puccini: Turandot
Repertoire:
Rossini: Il barbiere di Siviglia; Puccini: La bohème, Madama Butterfly, Tosca; Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni; Tchaikovsky: The Nutcracker; Verdi: Rigoletto, Nabucco, La traviata, Don Carlo, Requiem; J. Strauss: Die Fledermaus; R. Strauss: Ariadne auf Naxos, Arabella; Mascagni: Cavalleria rusticana; Leoncavallo: Pagliacci; Bizet: Carmen; Wagner: Parsifal
