György Vashegyi earned a degree in conducting studies at the Budapest Academy of Music in 1993. His interest in historical performance was greatly influenced by Helmuth Rilling, John Eliot Gardiner, John Toll, Malcolm Bilson and Simon Standage. Vashegyi has been a regular guest conductor for several Hungarian symphony orchestras and the Hungarian State Opera since the year 2000. He founded the Purcell Choir and the Orfeo Zenekar in 1991 and has been responsible for countless important opera and oratorio productions, as well as cantata and orchestral programmes. His name is associated with dozens of contemporary world and Hungarian premieres, while he has also released some 30 albums with his groups. Since 2014, he has developed a close relationship with the Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, releasing the following French Baroque recordings through the Glossa music label: the world premier of Rameau’s Les Fêtes de Polymnie – Ballet héroique; the album Mondonville: Grands Motets; a world premiere of Isbé; the opera pastiche Un opéra pour trois rois and a theatrical performance of Rameau’s Nais. Vashegyi has taught at the Academy of Music since 1992 and is currently an associate professor. He was awarded the Liszt Award in 2008 and the Knight’s Cross of the Hungarian Order of Merit in 2015, and has been a member of the Hungarian Academy of Arts since 2013 and its president since October 2017.

On the occasion of Hungary’s national holiday on 15 March 2024, in recognition of his valuable work as an artist and in artistic public life, he was the country’s highest state decoration, he was awarded the Kossuth Prize.