Gábor Takács-Nagy

Who is Gábor Takács-Nagy?

Gabor Takács-Nagy is a Hungarian violinist and conductor. He began violin studies at age 8. He attended the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where he was a winner of the Jenő Hubay prize. His teachers at the Liszt Academy included Ferenc Rados, András Mihály, and György Kurtág.

In 1975, Takács-Nagy, Károly Schranz, Gabor Ormai and András Fejér founded the Takács Quartet. The quartet recorded for the Hungaroton and Decca labels. Takács-Nagy left the ensemble in 1992, after he had developed hand stress, which forced him to stop playing the violin, and personal tensions arose within the quartet after their emigration from Hungary to the United States. Following his departure from the quartet, he underwent musical therapy and resumed playing the violin.

In 1996, Takács-Nagy founded the Takács Piano Trio with Dénes Várjon and Péter Szabo. He also became concertmaster of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. In 1997, he joined the faculty of the Conservatoire de Musique de Genève as Professor of String Quartet. In 1998, he established the Mikrokosmos String Quartet with Zoltán Tuska, Sándor Papp and Miklós Perényi.