Béla Drahos

Béla Drahos (born 14 April 1955) is a Hungarian conductor and flutist.

Biography Bela Drahos with the Austrian guitarist Johanna Beisteiner (middle) and the Hungarian composer Robert Gulya (left) after a concert in Budapest in 2009. Drahos started out as a flutist, joining the orchestra in his hometown when he was just 8 years old. At the age of 12 he became the principal flutist, and as a young man he won several flute competitions. He studied at the Liszt Academy in Budapest, graduating in 1978.

He did not make his conducting debut until 1992 with an all-Beethoven programme. His first recording as a conductor was a disc of three Haydn symphonies for Naxos Records. Videos of Concerto for guitar and orchestra and the tango The Milonguero and the Muse by Robert Gulya played live by Béla Drahos, Johanna Beisteiner and the Budapest Symphony Orchestra.