Bela Drahos entered the Győr Conservatory in 1969 to study the flute, taking the first prize in the 1971 Prague International Flute Competition and, a year later, in a flute competition staged by Hungarian Television. Having continued his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, where he graduated with distinction in 1978, Drahos featured successfully in many more competitions, notably the 1979 Bratislava Interpodium. As a flautist he has combined symphonic, chamber, and solo playing with great success. Since 1976 he has been the principal flautist of the Budapest Symphony Orchestra (also known as the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra) which is part of the Hungarian Television and Broadcasting Organisation. He is a founding member and the leader of the Hungarian Radio Wind Quintet, and has performed as a soloist throughout Europe and as far afield as New Zealand.
Among the many significant awards which Drahos has won are the Hungarian Liszt Prize in 1985, his selection as Hungarian Artist of the Year in 1986, and the Bela Bartok-Ditta Pasztory Prize in 1988, one of Hungary’s highest musical honours. In addition to his activities as a flautist, he has developed a parallel career as a conductor: since 1993 he has conducted both the Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra (established in 1923 as the Budapest Municipal Orchestra, re-organized after World War II as the Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra, and now known also as the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra) and the Budapest Symphony Orchestra.
For the Naxos label Drahos has conducted repertoire focused principally upon the Viennese Classical composers, notably the complete symphonies of Beethoven and many by Haydn, as well as the same composer’s ‘Nelson’ Mass. Additionally he has directed, as well as taking the solo part in, flute concertos by Vivaldi, and has conducted oboe and flute concertos by Leopold Hofmann. In the majority of these recordings Drahos has directed the Hungarian Nicolaus Esterhazy Sinfonia, an ensemble formed in 1992 from members of the Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra by Ibolya Toth of the Hungarian Phoenix Studio, initially as a recording orchestra for Naxos. Drahos’s recordings with this orchestra have received consistent praise both for the high technical standards of performance and for the conductor’s ability to realise to the full the character of the works themselves as well as the varied instrumental writing which they contain.
© Naxos Rights International Ltd. — David Patmore (A–Z of Conductors, Naxos 8.558087–90).