Tamás Ungár

Winning the Bartók Youth Competition in Budapest at the age of 8 was the first sign for Tamás Ungár that music was his future. After this auspicious beginning he emigrated from Hungary to Australia and studied under Alexander Sverjensky at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Subsequently he studied with Lajos Hernádi at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, and with György Sebök at Indiana University, where he was awarded the Doctorate in Music.

After performing and teaching in London for some years, Tamás Ungár was appointed to the music faculty at the University of California at San Diego, and in 1978 was invited to his current position at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth. As the first performing musician ever to receive the coveted British Leverhulme Fellowship, Tamás Ungár served as Artist-in-Residence at York University during the 1984-85 season, playing over fifty concerto, recital and chamber music engagements throughout the United Kingdom.

Renowned for his powerful performances and innovative programming, Tamás Ungár records exclusively for Cala Records - www.calarecords.com. He performs and teaches regularly all over the globe, and has become one of United States' best known and most respected piano teachers. At TCU he maintains a class of international piano students who consistently receive prizes in national and international competitions, and perform in such music centres as Alice Tully Hall and Carnegie Recital Hall.

Tamás Ungár is Founder/Executive Director of PianoTexas International Academy & Festival (formerly the TCU/Cliburn Piano Institute), which over the course of 26 years has become the foremost organisation of its kind. In a concentrated four-week period each year, the Program offers individual tuition, master classes, concerto and chamber music experience to selected young pianists from around the world-many on scholarship-plus similar opportunities for piano teachers and talented amateurs.