The Hungarian conductor Valéria Csányi (b. 1958, Budapest) studied at the Liszt Academy of Music, obtaining a music teacher’s and choral conductor’s diploma in 1982 and a conductor’s diploma in 1984. She has attended masterclasses given by Karl Österreicher in Vienna, Péter Eötvös in Szombathely and Milan Horvat in Salzburg, and since 1983, has been a member of the Hungarian State Opera, initially as a répétiteur.

She was given the opportunity to conduct opera in 1988, leading several works, including premieres, and between 1995 and 2009 she took part in all of the ballet productions of the State Opera. She has worked extensively at the Hungarian State Opera, conducting more than 700 performances. She has toured Austria, Germany, Poland, Spain, Sweden and Mexico.

Csányi has made recordings for Naxos including the operetta Fürstin Ninetta by Johann Strauss II with the Stockholm Strauss-Orkester [8.660227-28] as well as the first complete recording of Ferenc Erkel’s opera István király (‘King Stephen’) [8.660345-46], Leó Weiner’s ballet Csongor and Tünde [8.573491] and Imre Széchényi’s Complete Dances for Orchestra [8.573807].