Martin Rajna is one of the most outstanding young conductors emerging from Hungary. He takes the podium as Principal Conductor at the Hungarian State Opera since 2023. He also regularly appears as a guest conductor with leading symphony orchestras of Hungary, as well as with several other orchestras across Europe.
He is scheduled for several international debuts during the 2024/25 season. He conducts, among others, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Luxembourg Philharmonic and the La Fenice orchestra. He performs at the Tyrolean Festival Games, where he conducts the premiere of Bartók Bluebeard's Castle and Poulenc La Voix humaine directed by Claus Guth. At the Hungarian State Opera, he appears as the conductor of Der Fliegende Holländer, Die Fledermaus, Macbeth, Cavalleria rusticana and Maria Stuarda, and he will also be guest conductor of the Hungarian National Philharmonic and the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, among others.
In 2018, he was selected for Hungary’s Junior Prima Award. In 2021 he was also selected for the mentoring programme of the Peter Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation, where he worked with such masters as Péter Eötvös, György Kurtág, Fabián Panisello and Magnus Lindberg. Previous awards include a scholarship in 2022 to participate in the Forum Dirgieren programme of the German Music Council. He was also selected for the Conducting Fellowship of the Lucerne Festival Academy. He was the 2023 winner of the György Cziffra Festival Talent Prize. He earned the Zoltán Závodszky Award in 2024.
Martin Rajna graduated from the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he studied with Ádám Medveczky and András Ligeti. Currently, he is continuing his training at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar under conductors Nicolás Pasquet and Ekhart Wycik. Since 2023 he is acting as assistant conductor to Ádám Fischer during the “Budapest Wagner Days”.
