Zsombor Tóth-Vajna,
Early keyboardist, conductor

A specialist in early keyboard instruments and a conductor, Zsombor Tóth-Vajna is one of the outstanding figures of this generation of young Hungarian musicians. At the Liszt Academy in Budapest, he graduated with honours in harpsichord and organ as a pupil of Miklós Spányi and Borbála Dobozy, then completed a Master’s degree in the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where he graduated in organ, harpsichord, fortepiano, and clavichord under Menno van Delft, Richard Egarr, and Jacques van Oortmerssen. He studied conducting with Richard Egarr and Ton Koopman. In addition, he completed studies at the General Medicine programme at the Faculty of Medicine, Semmelweis University in Budapest. He is a frequent guest at concert venues in Hungary and abroad, from the Thomaskirche in Leipzig to Handel House in London, and he has appeared as keyboard soloist and conductor not only in many countries in Europe, but also in the United States. In 2024 he was the first Hungarian in the history of London’s Westminster Abbey and St. Paul’s Cathedral who gave solo recitals on the historic organs of these iconic venues. He has made recordings for Hungarian Radio and Hungarian Television, including some with András Batta, to popularize early keyboard music. He is the conductor and artistic director of the Harmonia Caelestis Baroque Orchestra, founded in 2015, and his passion for keyboard music for four-hands finds expression in the Piano e Forte Duo, with his twin Gergely. He further perfected his keyboard skills at masterclasses with Pierre Hantai, Skip Sempé, Ton Koopman, Masaaki Suzuki, Malcolm Bilson, Lorenzo Ghielmi, Christine Schornsheim, Luigi Ferdinando Tagliavini, Jon Laukvik, Andreas Staier, and Hans Fagius. As a teacher, he has given masterclasses in Hungary and abroad and has been a member of the juries at international competitions. In 2020 he gained a scholarship for a doctorate at the Royal College of Music in London. His field of research is performance practice in seventeenth-century English keyboard music, especially the organ works of John Blow and Henry Purcell. To date, he has released 12 solo CDs. Zsombor Tóth-Vajna was awarded Semmelweis University’s most prestigious Kerpel Prize in 2013 and was elected among the 50 most talented young Hungarians by the magazine La Femme in 2015. Zsombor also received the grant for the talented youth in Hungary (2015, 2017, 2018). In 2019 he received the prestigious Hungarian Bach Prize, in 2024 the Honorary Medal of Budavár, and the President of Hungary awarded him the Hungarian Gold Cross of Merit. In 2025 he was awarded Hungary’s highest decoration for music, the Liszt Ferenc Prize.