Curriculum Vitae
Ildikó Rita Anna Varga, Ildikó Varga (also published works under the acronym VIRA).
Official name: Dr. Ildikó Varga, Ph.D.
Teacher, singer, opera singer, music historian, (Dr. phil/Ph.D.), lyrics writer, poet, writer
Ildikó Varga was born and raised in Pécs, where she also completed primary and secondary education. Her father was a natural, her grandfather was a cantor and teacher, her mothers cousin was a famous operatta promadonna, Marika Németh. During her schoolyears she learnt German and Russian languages, and won several competitions about proper pronunciation and poem recital. At the age of eight she started learning music at the piano department of Ferenc Liszt Music School of Pécs and also learned folk dance. Due to these studies, she started to perform music on stage at the age of eight and she regularly performs until now.
She graduated as a kindergarten teacher at Janus Pannonius Secondary and Vocational School of Pécs. There she was an active member of the theatre group of the school and also regularly performed as a soloist and pianist-accompanist of the school choir, conducted by Mátyás Ivasivka. She graduated as music teacher and cultural manager, having gained her first university degree at the former University of Janus Pannonius (the institution has been renamed to University of Pécs).
Her career as a singer started with musicals and operettas, later she gained opera and concert performance permit in Budapest as a student of Maria Teresa Uribe. Her first independent, full-night music performance, the Funny Girl featured lyrics composed by herself. She recited her own poems at the concert called Schubertiade, where her partners were István Kovács, and Lúcia Megyesi-Schwartz.
In 2000 she debuted in the Hungarian Opera of Cluj-Napoca, Romania in the role of Fenena in Nabucco, conducted by Béla Hary and directed by András Kürthy. In the same year she was the soloist of the Music Ensemble of the National Army (Honvéd Művészegyüttes) as well as the InterOperett Gala in Budapest.
In August of 2000 she got employed in Iceland as a piano teacher and singing tutor. She sang the lead role in several operas of Mozart, and had two solo concerts in the Opera of Reykjavik. It was the first time Icelandic audience could hear a live performance of Hungarian folk songs and folk-song-arrangements.
In 2002 she received a grant from the Friends of Opera in Budapest (Budapesti Operabarátok Köre) and also actively contributed to the work of the Florentin Chamber Music Workshop (Florentin Kamarazenei Műhely) in Pécs. She sang on chamber music concerts, but also took part in different performances such as oratorios, operettas, and musicals. In 2004 she staged a collection of Icelandic songs in Hungary. In 2006 she prepared a „Gesamtkunstwerk”, a monodrama that creates a story while featuring different songs, opera arias, piano pieces, drama monologues and poems. In 2007-2008, when performing in the concert series of Filharmónia Magyarország (Philharmonics of Hungary) in Zoltán Kodály’s folk opera, Háry János, she sang both the role of Örzse and the role of the Empress.
Her knowledge and experience was broadened by masterclasses led by Kristján Jóhansson, Júlia Hamari, Lorraine Nubar (teacher of the Juilliard School of New York), Dalton Baldwin (JessyeNorman’s chamber music parner), Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Sándor Sólyom-Nagy, and Walter Moore. Apart from those, she also took part on the International Vocal MasterClass in Majk, organized by the Hungarian State Opera House of Budapest, and the International Bartok Seminar in Szombathely. As a student of Tamás Bubnó she accomplished an accredited course of church music.
In 2008 she graduated with the highest score as a singer and music teacher from the Institute of Music of the Faculty of Music and Visual Arts of University of Pécs as a student of Veronika Kincses. After having graduated university within 4 semesters instead of the usual 10 semesters, she was admitted to the doctoral school of Music History of the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz as Peter Revers’ student. She graduated in 2015 and defended her dissertation PhD entitled Richard Wagner, Hungary, and the Nineteenth Century, Aspects of the Reception of Wagner’s Operas and Music-Dramas.
Since 2008 she has been publishing in academic journals regularly. Earlier she used to publish mainly articles and reviews, while nowadays she rather writes essays and studies. The online magazine MusiciansWho.hu noted her as a permanent colleague between 2008 and 2011. From 2008 onwards she has worked as a journalist and music critic for several papers, such as Parlando, Hírmondó; A Magyar Wagner TársaságLapja (the paper of the Hungarian Richard Wagner Society); Opera-Világ.hu; a Magyar Kodály Társaság Hírei (News of the Hungarian Kodály Society); a GRAMOFON; Klasszikus és jazz; the Pécs department of Dunántúli Napló – the daily paper of Baranya county; Baranyai Civil Korzó; and the online historical journal 1945-1990, Pécs8.
Since 2010 she regularly gives presentations about music history, performs on recital-concerts, and participates in many academic projects and exhibitions. In 2014 on the invitation of Zsuzsanna Domonkos she engaged in the preparation of the exhibition entitled Wagner and his Hungarian Friends, organized by the Liszt Ferenc Memorial Museum and Research Centre. Her research results were also included in the academic publication that was prepared for the exhibition. In 2014-2015 in Pécs she took part in the preparation and execution of the tender Travel around Music that won the award of the National Cultural Fund of Hungary. In 2017 she was the curator of the temporary exhibition És a muzsika... that was centered around the life and work of the Hungarian Agócsy-Horváth musician-family. She was the senior associate and curator of the exhibition Fehéren izzó hegedű, organized in memoriam István Gyermán. These events were organized and hosted by Csorba Győző Library and Kodály Centre of Pécs.
Since the late 1990s she directed different pieces and gained a gold classification as a director of West Side Story in 2011. She rewrote the Hungarian language lyrics of West Side Story and also of other musicals, which she directed. The premiere of these new lyrics was usually on the day of the plays’ first performance. Her biggest achievement as a director was so far the monodrama entitled Örök Nő (Eternal Woman).The chamber music monodrama she organized, directed and starred has created somekind of a new genre.
Her career as a singing tutor dates back to 2001, later she was the voice teacher of the Faculty of Music of the University of Pécs. She was awarded with a certificate of merit for her teaching activity in 2015, for the preparation of her students to the Országos Balassagyarmati Magánének Verseny (Hungarian National Soloist Competition of Balassagyarmat). Her students won several competitions, organized on regional, national or international level; they were admitted to Music Academies, theatre schools or got employed in opera houses and choirs of theatres.
In 2017 after gaining a qualification in psychology she collected her 10th qualification so far.
On 12 December 2017 she released an album titled Kristály-híd (Crystal-bridge). In the same year her poems were published, and one of her lyrics became a finalist of a national contest. On 19 January 2018 her poems were published in a Hungarian national anthology of poets titled Szárnypróbálgatók 2018. On 28 February 2018 her first article was released of her series on music history in the online history magazine, 1945-1990, Pécs8. (Ex Libris Et Musicis. Ladislaus de Agócsy. Column: Mosaics.)
From February 2018 she enrolled to the Budapest University of Technology and Economics (Leader in public education and teacher qualification exam leader).
Her second album titled Százszorszép (Moon-flower) was released on 31 July 2018. She obtained her next qualification about psychology in July 2018. Her first own book, Richard Wagner, Magyarország és a magyarok, 1842-1924 (Richard Wagner, Hungary, and Hungarians, 1842-1924) was published in August 2018.
On 13 July 2019 she received a master's degree (M.Ed.) after studying on University of Szeged (SZTE) on 24 September 2019 she also received her Ph.D. degree's certificate of naturalization by the committee of Liszt Academy, Budapest. On 3 December 2019 she graduated as leader of public education on Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Budapest.
On 7 April she created her new brand: VirArt.
On 1 September 2020 she became the schooldirector of Abaligeti Elementary and Music School.
In September and October 2020 she gave three lecture concerts in Pécs, Hungary. Theme: based on her book Richard Wagner, Magyarország és a magyarok, 1842-1924.
In November 2020 her 1st Prize Winner study Harmóniák, ellentétek és az „Isteni faktor” a zene és az érzelmek relációjának tükrében were published in the volume of studies The Praise of Harmony (A harmónia dicsérete, published by the Department of Art and Art History, Institute of Art, of University of Szeged and SZTE JATEPress, Szeged, 2020.)
On 25 April 2021 her translation was published in an occasion of an online concert. Richard Wagner: Wesendonck-Lieder. (FUGA, Kéringer László, Borbély László.)
Her pedagogical concept will be introduce from 2021 September.
27th academical publication was published under the title, A pesti Wagner-egylet alapításának 150. évfordulójára, Pest, 1872-Budapest, 2022. (Study volume: Hírmondó Jubileumi kiadás – RWT 150, pp. 3-16.Richard Wagner Society, Budapest, 4 October 2022, Budapest.)
In December 2022 her fairy tale book was completed. (The illustrations were made by her as well.)
2021/2022/2023 – high school and elementary school teacher and choir leader in Pécs, Hungary.
Her poems were published for a third time in a Hungarian national anthology. (21 January 2023, Szárnypróbálgatók 2023 – magyar anyanyelvű alkotók országos antológiája, XX. ORSZÁGOS, JUBILEUMI SZÁRNYPRÓBÁLGATÓK ANTOLÓGIA.)
A book was published on 22 January 2023 about her ancestors. She contributed with her reasarch.
From September 2023 she is a music and piano teacher in Pécs and Szászvár, Hungary.
October 2023: she completed her teaching qualification (98%).
December 2023: the extended edition of her first CD, Crystal Bridge was finished. (She wrote the Hungarian translations/lyrics.)
Her singing pupils and students won five prizes on singing competitions in December 2023 and January 2024. (Summarization: 42 prizes, more than 100 performances, results.)
In April 2024 her first book of poems is being prepared.
CV updated on 1 March 2024.
