Besides the musical principles laid out by Zoltán Kodály, my musical values are defined by the centuries-old Viennese tradition. My artistic vision is built on the inseparable link between the scientific and traditional knowledge and the emotional message of music; I strive to deliver sophisticated and elaborate performances that are true to the music and age, and are also in accordance with the highest artistic standards. The primary focus of my work is to propagate the musical and sacred depths of church music, and its age-appropriate interpretation.
Péter Kővári studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (Universität für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Wien). He has been a member of the world-famous Grammy Award-winning Arnold Schoenberg Choir since 2005. He had the opportunity to work with world-famous conductors such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Claudio Abbado, Pierre Boulez, Ádám Fischer, Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Berrnard Haitink and Erwin Ortner.
He graduated in June, 2008 with a master’s degree in church music, in the conducting and solo singing department, and in June, 2010 he received his degree as an organist. His teachers, Prof. Erwin Ortner, Jordi Casals (conductor), Prof. Peter Planyavsky (organ) and Prof. Margit Klaushofer (solo singing), considered him an outstanding talent. In 2009 he received a scholarship from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna and in 2010 he was awarded a scholarship by the Tokyo Foundation for Young Talented Artists. In 2011 he won the Zoltán Kodály Music Composition Scholarship, and in 2013 he was the recipient of the Annie Fischer Scholarship.
He has been a cultural advisor for the Aegis Culture and Arts Foundation since 2012. Between 2014-2019 he was the conductor and artistic director of the Ferenc Liszt Choral Society of Veszprém. Starting in the fall of 2014, he is an art teacher (organ and conducting) at the Music Conservatory of Veszprém and Zenede (music school). Since 2016, he has been a teacher and one of the organizers of the Ecumenical Organ Camp in Balatonfüred. Since the spring of 2017, he has been the artistic director and conductor of the OPUS Choir. From 2018 he has been an art teacher at the Tihany Benedictine School, and since September 2019 the music director of the Tihany Benedictine Abbey. Since September 2022 he has been mentor teacher at the University of Pécs, Faculty of Music.
In January 2010, he made his debut as a countertenor, with the role of Spirit from Henry Purcell’s opera Dido and Aeneas, in the Musikverein in Vienna under the direction of Nikolaus Harnoncourt. His first solo album, Quod barocum vocatur I. – The Colors of Baroque Music, was released in 2011.
He gives many concerts at home and abroad as an instrumental soloist, conductor, chamber musician and continuo player.
As an expert artistic director, he helped build the following organs:
Balatonalmádi – Vörösberény, Saint Ignatius Church – new organ, 2020.
Bodajk, Shrine of the Helping Virgin Mary, organ expansion, restoration, 2021.
He is currently involved in the construction of several new instruments and organ restorations.
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