Tibor Varga (1921 - 2003), violinist, conductor and pedagogue of world-wide renown was born in Györ, Hungary, in the same region that had previously witnessed the birth of Joseph Joachim, Leopold Auer and Carl Flesch.
 
As numerous critics will testify, Tibor Varga, creator of a new style of violin playing, is considered one of the greatest musicians of our time.
He was six years old when he made his first public appearance. At ten, he performed his first solo role with an orchestra, giving an interpretation of Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto in E minor op. 64. Recommended for his impressive talent by Jenö Hubay, 10-year-old Tibor Varga was enrolled at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he studied with Gabriel and Leo Weiner. When Jenö Hubay died in 1937, it was Tibor Varga who performed under the direction of Ernst von Dohnányi, the 3rd Violin Concerto op. 99 by Jenö Hubay in the commemoration concert.
When only 13 years old, Tibor Varga made his first recordings; and at fourteen he made his first concert tours taking him all over Europe.
 
As a soloist he played under the baton of the most renowned conductors, such as Ansermet, Böhm, Boulez, Fricsay, Furtwängler, Markevitch, and Solti. He recorded the great works of classic and contemporary composers for EMI, Columbia, Deutsche Grammophon and other distinguished labels, with such renowned orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic and the Philharmonia Orchestra of London.
 
Tibor Varga's performances and recordings of the Violin Concertos and other works of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, Nielsen, Schönberg, Tchaïkovsky, Bartok, Berg etc. are recognized as definitive interpretations. His performances of Bach and Mozart are especially a model of musical sensitivity and integrity for future performing artists.
 
Through his interpretations, Tibor Varga raised the Violin Concertos and other works of Bartok, Berg and Schönberg to the status of "classics" of the repertoire, assuring them a prime position in musical life. He gave the world premiere performance of the Berg Violin Concerto in Vienna under Hermann Scherchen, and later gave the first performance of this work in Australia. At the Royal Albert Hall, London, where he was regularly the guest artist at the "Promenade Concerts", he played the violin concertos of Berg, Brahms, Schönberg, Shostakovitch and Tchaïkovsky to the enthusiastic acclaim of audiences and the warm praise of critics.
 
Tibor Varga’s great interpretation of the Violin Concerto of Arnold Schönberg at its 1949 European premiere, has become legendary. Schönberg, after hearing Tibor Varga’s recording of this work, wrote a letter – an historic accolade paying tribute to his talent and thanking him for the "superb interpretation" of his work. The composer wrote the following to him: "Your performance resonates as if you had known the work for 25 years. Your whole interpretation is mature, expressive, marvellous. I can assure you that I have never heard a performance which so precisely reflected my intentions in every detail. I would like to be younger to write more music for you."
Tibor Varga was the soloist for numerous world premières, among them works composed for him and/ or dedicated to him, such as the Violin Concertos by Blacher, Krenek, Nyström, Prado, Seiber and Zillig.
 
In the early 1950’s, following the advice of his close friend Franco Ferrara, one of the most highly regarded conductors of the 20th century, Tibor Varga began conducting professionally and developed an equally outstanding reputation in this musical discipline. Many of his numerous interpretations as a soloist, conductor and interpreter of chamber music - on the whole more than 1000 different works – are re-recorded on CD in the “Tibor Varga CD Collection.”
 
Tibor Varga was famous for his boundless creative energy in yet more fields of music. In the early 1940’s, he was co-founder and the first professor of a conservatory for advanced music students in his home town of Györ, Hungary, a school which later became associated with the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest. In 1949 he was invited to become a professor of a newly-established Music Academy at Detmold, Germany. Under his guidance, and with the collaboration of his colleagues André Navarra, Rainer Moog, Bruno Giurana and Lajos Montag, the Academy achieved a world class reputation. The Tibor Varga Chamber Orchestra created in 1954 was recognized in the musical life of Germany and all of Europe for many decades.
 
After more than 35 years at the Detmold Music Academy, Tibor Varga founded the Ecole Supérieure de Musique of Sion (Valais, Switzerland), now Conservatoire Supérieur et Académie de musique Tibor Varga. Students coming from all parts of the world develop their musical and artistic skills under the guidance of internationally known artists and teachers.
 
The Tibor Varga Festival and Summer Music Academy was established at Sion in 1963. With more than 400 students in many musical disciplines working with famous performing artists, it was one of the oldest and most important annual musical events in Europe for almost 40 years.
 
Tibor Varga was a member and often president of juries of the most important international competitions for violin and chamber music. In 1967 he founded the Tibor Varga International Violin Competition, which continues to this day to be one of the most respected and exacting competitions in the world.
 
In 1974 Tibor Varga created the Tibor Varga Foundation which, in collaboration with the company Philharmonia, is the editor of the “Tibor Varga CD Collection.” This CD collection is distinguished as an artistic and historic documentation, in tribute to a great musician of world renown who profoundly affected the history of musical interpretation. The Tibor Varga Foundation is also the administrator of an exceptional professional recording studio in Grimisuat, Switzerland, which is used regularly by major international artists.
 
Germany, France, Hungary and Switzerland have awarded Tibor Varga their highest honours, including the Légion d'Honneur, des Arts et Lettres de la Renaissance Française; the Cultural Prize of the State of Valais, Switzerland; and the Order of Merit (Bundesverdienstkreuz).
In October 2002, following retirement from musical life in Switzerland, Tibor Varga was appointed professor of violin at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Graz, Austria, where he worked actively until his death in 2003.

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