GABRIELLA THÉSZ (recipient of the Liszt, Kodály, Bartók-Pásztory prizes, and Merited Artist of Hungary) graduated from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest and received a diploma in Music Education and Choral Conducting.

Ms Thész often travels in Hungary and abroad (Europe, the United States, Australia, Japan and Canada) leading workshops, lecturing and conducting. In 1977 she taught at the Kodály Musical Training Institute in Wellesley, Massachusetts and in 1988 was a visiting faculty member at the Holy Names College Kodály Programme in Oakland, California. She was a guest conductor of the National Children’s Choir at the Organisation of American Kodály Educators Conference in San Francisco, California (1991), Columbus, Ohio (1995) and Chicago, Illinois, (2007) and has been a jury member at numerous national and international choral competitions.

Between 1975 and 1994 she was a supervisor of the Kodály Methodology Programme at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. From 1992- 2012 she has been a professor of choral conducting at the Teacher’s Training Institute of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest.

For 27 years Ms Thész was conductor and instructor of the Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir and from 1995 to 2012 she was appointed Artistic Director of the ensemble. She has made numerous CDs, recordings for radio broadcast and has toured both home and abroad including almost all the countries of Europe, Japan, Taiwan, South-Korea and the USA.

As the director of the Children’s Choir she has made several first performances of contemporary pieces and worked together with distinguished composers including Karlheinz Stockhausen, Luciano Berio, Franco Donatoni, Niccoló Castiglioni, Mauricio Kagel, Péter Eötvös, Philip Glass, Krzisztof Penderecki and conductors such as Paul Sacher, Myung- Whun Chung, Jeffrey Tate, Semyon Bychkov, Georg Solti, Zoltan Kocsis, Adam Fischer, Ivan Fischer, Dennis Russel Davies.

With her ensemble she has participated at outstanding European music festivals such as Salzburger Festspiele, Milano Musica, Wien Modern, Flemish Festival, Biennale of Venice.

Click to hear the Hungarian Radio Children’s Choir conducted by Gabriella Thész; piano: Anikó Novák:                            Ligeti: 4 Wedding Dances: http://novakaniko.com/071113_LIGETI.mp4