Janos Acs was born in Hungary to a musical family. He started studying piano and flute with his father as a small child until he entered the conservatory of Budapest and graduated from it. He developed a great affinity to the Italian operas and in summer 1974 he went to Italy and acquired Italian nationality.
He became a rehearsal pianist for operas in Italian theaters like the Teatro alla Scala in Milano, La Fenice in Venice and the Teatro Comunale in Florence. He was led by great conductors like Carlo Maria Giulini, Giuseppe Patanè and Claudio Abbado, for years he was the “conductor assistant” of Peter Maag. His success in Italian opera houses led to his appointment as a music director of the city theater in Pretoria, South Africa. The next seven years he was the principal conductor of the Opera Colorado in Denver, USA. Back in Italy in 1991 Janos Acs met Luciano Pavarotti and became his collaborator and conducted many of his world tour concerts in four continents.
From 1994 he was the artistic director of Salerno´s Municipal Teatro in Italy. In 1996 he had the debut of the world premier of Franz Liszt’s De Profundis together with his brother, the pianist in Milan’s Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory. In 1998 he accompanied Aretha Franklin at the Grammy Awards in New York with the orchestra and chorus of the Metropolitan Opera. In December 2000 he celebrated an event with the Three Tenors as a conductor in Chicago’s Unite Centre, with an auditorium of 60.000 people.
Besides his famous performances, he has been a recital pianist and teacher for Katia Ricciarelli, Samuel Ramey, Mariella Devia, Ruggero Raimondi and Nicola Martinucci. In addition to his special career he holds masterclasses on Italian opera.