Educated subject: Violin
founder and concertmaster of the Failon Chamber Orchestra
In 2006, in recognition of his artistic work a Gold Medal of the Republic of Hungary was honored. Béla Nagy made his violinist degree in 1981 as a student of Margit Lányi at the Academy of Music. His teachers included Dénes Kovács, András Mihály and Vilmos Tátrai.
During his studies he has participated in several major competitions: in 1977 he won 1st prize at the Weiner Leó Chamber Music Competition in String Quartet category.
In 1980 he received a Paris scholarship for Henrik Schering at the Zagreb International Violin Competition, in 1981 at the Jenő Hubay Violin Competition in II. ranking. He then received a 2-year scholarship to Moscow, the Tchaikovsky Conservatory.
With a recent diploma he contracted to Finland, where he was the first concertmaster of the Kuopio Symphony Orchestra and then played in the orchestra of the Helsinki Finnish National Opera. At the same time he was also a soloist of the Finnish Radio Orchestra.
In 1982, Nelly Failoni (widow of Sergio Failoni) held a hearing for the conductor, Giuseppe Patané, guest conductor in Budapest, who, as director of the San Carlo Opera, immediately signed the young violinist in Naples.
From 1983 he worked at the Parmai Toscanini Orchestra and at the same time he worked at the Parma Opera and the Camerata Orchestra di Parma.
In the autumn of 1983, he founded the Budapest Chamber Orchestra with conductor Tamás Pál. He was a concertmaster until 1987. In 1988-89 he participated in several foreign tours with the company of Hungarian Virtuosi.
In 1990, he founded the Fassoni Chamber Orchestra of the Hungarian State Opera, with which he has been playing more than 160 giant concerts and 65 CD recordings since 1990. His major solo albums were made at the Naxos publisher.
Between 1984 and 2012 he was a member of the Hungarian State Opera Orchestra, between 2012 and 2015 he was the concertmaster of the Turkish State Opera House.
He has worked as a concertmaster and soloist at several large-scale events with world-famous artists, some of them:
- Ennio Morricone (1995 Hungarian State Opera House)
- Éva Marton – Éva Pánczél – Sólyom Sándor Nagy – Júlia Vajda (1998 Academy of Music)
- José Cura (2000 Erkel Theater)
- Placido Domingo (2002 UTE Stadium)
- José Cura (2003 Open-air Theater in Margitsziget)
- Jewish Summer Festival (2005 Dohány Street Synagogue)
- Placido Domingo – Erika Miklósa – Andrea Rost (2005 Népstadion)
- Andrea Bocelli (2005 Budapest Sports Arena)
- Eszter Sümegi – Derek Lee (2006 Academy of Music)
- Fünftes Konzert des Roma und Sinti Streichorchesters (2006 Frankfurt)
- Vásáry Tamás – Varnus Xavér (2007 Academy of Music)
- Charity Gala for the Peter Cerny Foundation (2009 Palace of Arts)
- Erika Miklósa – David D’Or (2011 Dohány Street Synagogue)