István Dénes (b. 1954) graduated from the Departments of Composition, Conducting and Piano at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in 1977. Since then, he has been the member of the Hungarian State Opera, where he made his debut as a conductor in The Cunning Little Vixen by Janáček in 1979. His breakthrough came with the 1981 production of Porgy and Bess. He has also conducted in major opera houses throughout Europe, from 1987 until 1995 he was the principal conductor of the Theater Bremen, between 1995 and 2008, he was the general music director of the Theater in Trier. His repertoire includes over 80 works including Il trovatore, Carmen, Die Zauberflöte, Madama Butterfly, La Traviata, Der Rosenkavalier, Tristan und Isolde, Otello, La bohème, Aida, Tosca, and Salome. Apart from his own compositions, he is renowned for the transcription of John the Valiant by Kacsóh and presenting such Hungarian masterpieces as Bánk Bán – The Viceroy Bánk by Erkel and The Tower of the Voivod by Dohnányi. He is also renowned for conducting 20th-century music like four one-acts by Hindemith in the OPERA’s German Late Night production. His achievements were awarded with the Liszt Award in 2021, and he became an eternal member of the Hungarian State Opera in 2024.
