Mr. Gilbert Varga, principal conductor of the Taipei Symphony Orchestra (TSO), gave a conducting workshop at TNUA in March.

He selected Richard Strauss’s Tod und Verklärung, Op.24 and Igor Stravinsky’s "Firebird" Suite (1919 version) for four practice sessions within two weeks for the workshop.

Mr. Gilbert Varga, son of famous Hungarian violinist, Tibor Varga, studied conducting under three very different maestros: Franco Ferrara, Sergiu Celibidache and Charles Bruck.

He is an authoritative conductor who is known for his flair. His performances display a wide range of colors, textures and emotions.

He has conducted many of the world’s major orchestras. He was chief conductor of the Hofer Symphoniker (1980-1985), and chief conductor of the Philharmonia Hungarica in Marl (1985-1990). He was also permanent guest conductor of the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra (1991-1995) and principal guest conductor of the Malmo Symphony (1997-2000).

He has toured across the UK, Germany, Spain and South America, and he became principal conductor of the TSO in 2013.

During the workshop, Mr. Varga stressed that the conductor must understand the ideas that the composers wanted to convey when writing the music. And it is necessary to pay attention to each and every detail of a work in order to perfect the performance.

He explained in detail the two pieces of music he selected for the workshop, and he said he was impressed by the TNUA students’ ability in quickly grasping the meaning of the works and by their skills in playing the music.