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Sunday, December 21, 2014

Laszlo Varga, Cellist for the New York Philharmonic, Is Dead at 89

Laszlo Varga was a New York Philharmonic virtuoso.

 Laszlo Varga (December 13, 1924 - December 11, 2014) was a Hungarian-American cellist who had a worldwide status as a soloist, recording artist, and authoritative cello teacher. For 11 years Varga held the position as principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic under the baton of the orchestra's music directors Dimitri Mitropoulos and Leonard Bernstein, and many guest conductors including Fritz Reiner and Guido Cantelli. He performed as soloist with orchestras in countries such as Australia, Japan, USA, the former Soviet Union, and throughout Europe. In music festivals such as Aspen, Chautauqua, and Shreveport, he has been spotlighted during the last 40 years for his duties as a soloist, chamber musician and teaching mentor. During this time recorded a multitude of disks for numerous labels including Columbia, CRI, Decca, EMI, Musicelli, Period, Philips, RCA, Serenus, and Vox. Many composers throughout the world have requested that Mr. Varga give the first performance of their works.