Born in Budapest, Gábor Takács-Nagy began studying the violin at the age of eight. As a student of the Franz Liszt Academy, he won First Prize in 1979 in the Jeno Hubay Violin Competition and later pursued studies with Nathan Milstein. From 1975 to 1992, he was a founding member and leader of the acclaimed Takács Quartet performing with legendary artists, Lord Menuhin, Sir Georg Solti, Isaac Stern and Mstislav Rostropovitch. In 1996 he founded the Takács Piano Trio and made world-premiere recordings of works of Hungarian composers Franz Liszt, Lászlo Lajtha and Sandor Veress.

Takács-Nagy is a dedicated and highly sought-after chamber-music teacher. He is Professor of String Quartet at the Haute Ecole de Musique in Geneva. In June 2012 he was awarded honorary membership of the Royal Academy of Music in London, and in February 2021 received the prestigious Artist of Merit award from the Hungarian government. He has regularly coached for ChamberStudio as a Visiting Professor.

In 2002, following in a long line of Hungarian musical tradition, Takács-Nagy turned to conducting. In 2006 he became the Music Director of the Weinberger Kammerorchestra and in August 2007, the Music Director of the Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra. From 2010 until 2012 he was Music Director of the MAV Symphony Orchestra Budapest and since September 2011, Music Director of Manchester Camerata. In September 2012 he was named Principal Guest Conductor of the Budapest Festival Orchestra. From 2013 to 2018 he was Principal Artistic Partner of the Irish Chamber Orchestra. He is regularly invited to conduct the Orchestre National de Lyon, the Orchestra Philharmonique de Monte Carlo, the Orchestra Filarmonica de Bologna, l’Orchestre de l’Opéra de Toulon, the Malaysian Philharmonic, the Calgary Philharmonic, the Bilkent Symphony Orchestra, the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestra of Dijon-Bourgogne, the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, the Orchestre de Chambre de Genève and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, amongst others.