Former New York Philharmonic principal cellist Laszlo Varga has died

Hungarian-American cellist Laszlo Varga died on 11 December, just a few days shy of his 90th birthday. Born on 13 December 1924, the musician served as principal cellist of the New York Philharmonic for eleven years under music directors Dimitri Mitropoulos and Leonard Bernstein. He was also a successful international soloist and a prolific recording artist.

Varga was an active chamber musician and performed as a member of the Borodin Piano Trio and the Léner String Quartet among a number of other ensembles. He was also a conductor and arranger, and founded the Virtuosi of New York and the Virtuosi of San Francisco.

A dedicated teacher, Varga was a cello professor at San Francisco State University, the University of California at Santa Cruz, the University of Toronto and the University of Houston.

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