Ivan Törzs is an American conductor and pianist educated at Princeton University, Mannes College of Music, and the Juilliard School.
He worked as a pianist and conductor in Charleston, Spoleto and Santa Fe before moving to Germany in 1985.
In Germany he conducted in Darmstadt, Hamburg and Karlsruhe. In 1993 he became principal conductor of the Mecklenburgische Staatsoper Schwerin. From 1999 until the summer of 2002 he was also artistic director there. Highlights of his tenure included performances of Otello and Tannhäuser with American-born soprano Helen Donath and concert performances of Parsifal with Renata Scotto.
His repertoire in Schwerin included Tosca, Jenůfa, Der Rosenkavalier, Tristan und Isolde, Parsifal, Wozzeck and Pelléas et Mélisande. He appeared as a guest conductor in Vienna (L'elisir d'amore), Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Nürnberg, Prague, Strasbourg and Budapest.
Since 2002, Ivan Törzs has been music director of the Vlaamse Opera. He has conducted Fidelio, La traviata, Arabella, Carmen, Salome, Luisa Miller, Il barbiere di Siviglia, Ariadne auf Naxos, and the Ring Cycle there.
As an accompanist, he has performed in recital with singers like Kurt Moll, Edda Moser, Theo Adam, and Cheryl Studer. He conducts regularly at the Hawaii Opera Theatre.