Kálmán Záborszky – the main conductor and artistic director of the Zuglo Philharmonics Budapest

He was born in a family of musicians. His father, József Záborszky was also a conductor and a composer. Kálmán Záborszky had started to get acquainted with cello with Miklós Zsámboki, music teacher. Then he graduated in the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music where he got classes from Frigyes Sándor, András Mihály and Antal Friss. He continued his studies in the University of Music in Wien where he had the opportunity to learn from André Navarra, the world-famous cellist and professor. He was the headmaster of the King St Steven (Szent István) Music Secondary School and Music Elementary School for 25 years. He built a unique orchestra workshop which aspect inspired so many generations of musicians and kept in the line of culture its so many talented students.

So soon, in the age of 14, he became a member of the original orchestra, the Steven Orchestra (István Orchestra). Since 1988 he has been the main conductor of the orchestra’s artists. In 2006 the music group became professional and since then his name has been Zuglo Philharmonics Budapest. Kálmán Záborszky is also a choir conductor of the King St Steven Oratory Choir.

The Zuglo Philharmonics Budapest has travelled in so many countries. Its last visit was in Berlin in 2013 when the orchestra took part in the Young Euro Classic Festival and one year after had a Hungarian evening concert in Bratislava with a great success. Previously it had concerts in Spain, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, Germany and Austria. Some of these concerts’ recordings, which were conducted by Kálmán Záborszky, were presented in the Euro Radio and the BBC.

In the last decades the work of Kálmán Záborszky was highly honoured with professional awards. Among others in 2006 he received Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic (Knight’s Cross), one year later he got the Regional Prima Primissima Prize, in 2012 he was awarded with the Ferenc Liszt Prize and since 2015 he has become Meritorious Artist of Hungary.