Role

:

Conductor  

Genre

:

Chamber

 

 

Concerto

 

Gyorgy Kertesz was a Hungarian conductor who was born on June 4, 1929, in Budapest, Hungary. He was born into a family of musicians, and his father was a violinist in the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra. Kertesz began his musical education at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he studied conducting with Janos Ferencsik and composition with Zoltan Kodaly. Kertesz made his conducting debut in 1953 with the Hungarian State Opera, and he quickly gained a reputation as a talented and innovative conductor. In 1956, he was appointed as the principal conductor of the Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he held until 1960. During this time, Kertesz also conducted the Budapest Symphony Orchestra and the Hungarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 1958, Kertesz made his international debut with the London Symphony Orchestra, and he quickly became a regular guest conductor with the orchestra. He also conducted many other major orchestras around the world, including the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Kertesz was known for his interpretations of the music of Mozart, Beethoven, and Brahms, and he was particularly admired for his performances of the music of his fellow Hungarian, Bela Bartok. He was also a champion of contemporary music, and he conducted many premieres of works by composers such as Gyorgy Ligeti and Krzysztof Penderecki. One of Kertesz's most famous recordings is his cycle of the nine Beethoven symphonies with the London Symphony Orchestra, which he recorded between 1961 and 1964. This recording is still considered one of the greatest interpretations of Beethoven's music, and it helped to establish Kertesz as one of the leading conductors of his generation. Kertesz was also a prolific recording artist, and he made many recordings with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic, and other major orchestras. He won several awards for his recordings, including a Grammy Award for his recording of Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra with the London Symphony Orchestra. In addition to his work as a conductor, Kertesz was also a composer. He wrote several works for orchestra, including a symphony and a violin concerto. However, his conducting career was his primary focus, and he is best remembered for his contributions to the world of classical music as a conductor. Tragically, Kertesz's career was cut short when he died in a plane crash on April 16, 1973, at the age of 43. He was on his way to a conducting engagement in London when the plane he was traveling on crashed in the Swiss Alps. Kertesz's death was a great loss to the world of classical music, and he is still remembered today as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century.

More....