Mr. Tamás Szarka was born in Tata, Hungary in 1994. On finishing secondary school he continued his studies by taking up a course in composition under the direction of Ms. Ilona Meskó at the Leó Weiner Catholic Music School. At the same time, he was accepted to the Faculty of Music of the Lóránd Eötvös University where he studied conducting from Mr. Ákos Erdős and Ms. Zsuzsanna Mindszenty. He took his BA in choir and orchestra conducting in 2018 at the Liszt FerencAcademy of Music following a three-year course under the direction of Mr. Csaba Somos and Mr. István Párkai. After taking his MA in 2021, after a three-year course under the direction of Mr. Valér Jobbágy and Ms. Zsófia Cseri he became a student of the DLA Course of the Institute. The title of his theses was Specific Stylistic Characteristics in the Vocal Sacred Music of Anton Bruckner on which he worked under the direction of Mr. Salamon Kamp.
During his university studies and in the years to follow Mr. Szarka has taken part in masterclasses in choir conducting of such renowned experts as Eric Whitacre, Frieder Bernius, Gary Graden, Péter Ordasi, Stephen Parham-Connolly, Kálmán Strausz and György Vashegyi.
Mr. Szarka took part in the Rezső Lantos Competition for Young Conductors where he received a special prize in 2018, and won second place in 2019. In 2021 Mr. Szarka was invited to the first Fosco Corti International Choir Conducting Competition in Torino where he made it into the first 18. In 2022 he was invited to the first International Choir Conducting Competition in Preveza where he made it into the top ten. In the same year he was awarded a golden certificate with the Budapest Lantos Choir in the Ninth Zoltán Kodály Hungarian Choir Competition in Budapest.
Mr. Szarka had been second conductor of the Budapest Lantos Choir since 2017 and became first conductor in 2023. In 2022 Mr. Szarka became first conductor of the Vác Harmony Choir (Váci Harmónia Kórus).
