- Classical Music Dictionary

Gyorgy Kurtag was born at Lugos (Lugoj, Romania) on 19 February, 1926.

From 1940, he took piano lessons from Magda Kardos and studied composition with Max Eisikovits at Timisoara.

Having moved to Budapest, he enrolled at the Academy of Music in 1946, where his professors included Sandor Veress and Ferenc Farkas (composition), Pal Kadosa (piano) and Leo Weiner (chamber music).

In 1957-1958, Kurtag studied in Paris with Marianne Stein and attended the courses of Messiaen and Milhaud.

As a result, he re-thought his ideas on composition and marked the first work he wrote after his return to Budapest, a string quartet, as his Opus 1.

From 1958-1963, Kurtag worked as repetiteur with the Bela Bartok Music Secondary School in Budapest.

In 1960-1968, he was repetiteur with soloists of the National Philharmonic.

From 1967, he was assistant to Pal Kadosa at the Academy of Music, in 1968 he was appointed professor of chamber music, a post he held until his retirement in 1986.

Kurtag was awarded the Erkel Prize in 1954, 1956 and 1969.

He was decorated with the Kossuth Prize in 1973. In 1980, he was created Merited Artist of the Hungarian People's Republic, in 1984 he became Outstanding Artist and also received the Bartok-Pasztory Award.

In 1986, Kurtag was decorated with the Order of the Star with the Golden Wreath by the Hungarian Government.

In 1985, he was appointed Officier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government.

In 1987, he was elected a corresponding member of the Bayerische Akademie der Schoenen Kunste.

In the same year, he also became a member of the Akademie der Kunste in West Berlin.

In 1993, he was awarded the Prix de Composition Musicale by the Foundation Prince Pierre de Monaco, for his Grabstein fur Stephan and Op.27 n.2 (Double Concerto), the Herder Prize by the Freiherr vom Stein (Hamburg, Germany), and the Premio Feltrinell (by the Accademia dei Lincei, Rome, Italy).

In 1993-1995, he was the composer in residence of the Berliner Philharmoniker, guest at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin, Germany.

In 1994, he was awarded the Osterreichischere Staatspreis fur Europaeische Komponisten (Austrian State Award for European Composers), and the Denis de Rougemont Prize ( by the European Association of Festivals).

In 1995-96, he was the composer in residence at the Wiener Konzerthaus (Vienna, Austria).

In 1996, he was awarded the Kossuth Prize for his life work(by the Hungarian states).

In 1998, he got Ernst von Siemens Musikpreises in Munchen.

Composers Biography