Biography
As a versatile conductor, composer and researcher, with a flair for captivating the attention, emotions and intellect of audiences, Ajtony Csaba is a thought-provoking and imaginative artist.
The music director and conductor of the UVic Symphony Orchestra in Victoria (Canada) since 2010 and conductor of the Central European Chamber Orchestra (mikamo) in Vienna since 2007, he is at home in the orchestral life of two continents. During his career, he has worked with leading orchestras around the world, such as the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra (hr-sinfonieorchester), the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Vienna, the Wroclaw Philharmonic Orchestra, and almost all Hungarian orchestras. He was resident composer and conductor at the Festspielhaus Hellerau, Dresden (EZKH) and assistant conductor to the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra. From 2008 to 2010, he conducted the Hermes and Recycled projects with mikamo in prominent concert halls throughout Central Europe, including the Konzerthaus and Radiokulturhaus in Vienna, and the music academies of Budapest, Bucharest and Cracow.
Having graduated with distinction from the conducting program of the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and further studied with Peter Eötvös and Lucas Vis, Csaba professes for musical communication that overarches physical and conceptual borders.
Csaba is equally comfortable in the orchestra pit and on the concert podium. At 25, he made his opera debut conducting the Hungarian première of Shostakovich’s Cheryomushki; later he worked as Kapellmeister at the Studiobühne Wien, leading critically acclaimed productions like Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Schönberg’s Erwartung and Bluebeard’s Castle by Bartók. Between 2013 and 2016, he studied the historic interpretation of operas by Puccini and Verdi with Maurizio Arena at the Teatro Mancinelli (Orvieto, Italy).
He has been a frequent guest at the Darmstadt New Music Festival, SiMN (Curitiba, Brazil), Wien Modern and the Transparent Sound Festival in Budapest. He plays a vital part in the global contemporary music community with his imaginative curating in such positions as co-director of the SALT New Music Festival in Victoria (Canada) and artistic director of the NewSpiritMusic concert series in Budapest.
The balanced use of extended and historical techniques and a genuine interest in glissando are the hallmarks of the music written by Ajtony Csaba, winning him prizes in Hungary, Austria, Canada and Germany. His music theatre gentle birth and his solo, ensemble, orchestra, choral and chamber music have been regularly performed in concert houses and at festivals around the world.
In performance, composition and research Ajtony Csaba is exploring the notion of gestures in music. Passionate about passing on his knowledge and experience to others, he is conducting professor at the University of Victoria and regularly conducts masterclasses at renowned institutions in Europe and North America.