Ervin Acél

Maestro Ervin Acél (* 3 June 1935 in Timiṣoara; † 24 August 2006 in Vienna) was a Hungarian-Romanian conductor and pedagogue.

Biography

Ervin Acél, Romanian born conductor and pedagogue, studied in Timisoara, Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca (Romania) - his teachers were Victor Iusceanu (music theory), Paul Constantinescu (harmony), Silvia Cǎpǎṭânǎ (piano), Adriana Sachelarie and George Breazul (history of music), Constantin Silvestri, Ion Vicol, Antonin Ciolan and Anton Ronai (conducting); masterclasses with the French conductor, Jean Fournet and the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic (Radio Filharmonisch Orkest).

Acél began his conducting career Botoṣani, Romania where he was active from 1960 to 1963.

From 1965 to 1992 he was Chief Conductor of the Oradea Philharmonic Orchestra, in which capacity he also acted as their Administrative Director from 1980 to 1989. He succeeded in greatly raising the artistic level of the ensemble which soon developed into one of Romania’s finest orchestras. Besides his numerous concerts, he released some 30 gramophone recordings. During his tenure, he paid a special attention to two important composers who had lived in Oradea: Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf and also
Michael Haydn, whose symphonies he was the first to record commercially.

For a short period between 1981 and 1983 Acél was the director of the Istanbul State Opera and Ballet.

From 1991 to April 1999 he was the Director and Chief Conductor of the Szeged Philharmonic Orchestra, the second most important orchestra in Hungary. His performances met with great popular success and during this period he performed a most eclectic repertoire ranging from baroque to modern music. He collaborated with such world known artists as: Mario del Monaco, Irene Oriver, Igor Oistrah, Robert Soëtens, Monique Hass, Magda Tagliafero, Rosa Fein, Katia Ricciarelli, Ryazard Bakst, Dmitri Alexeev, Antonio Barosa, Sebastian Benda, Takeihiro Hirai and many others. With this orchestra he toured extensively, giving performances in 1997 in Portugal (where he appeared with the mezzo-soprano with Agnes Baltsa), Russia, Italy and Korea. He also conducted the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Washington Philharmonic Orchestra, the Columbus Symphony Orchestra and participated in many international festivals such as the "Giornale Musicale di Vicenza", and the Santa Cecilia Conservatory in Rome.

Acél was a consummate master of the Vienna Classical Style, giving remarkable performances of the music of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Richard Strauss. Possessing a fabulous conducting technique, an extraordinary artistic temperament and a refined sense for orchestral sound, balance and color, he was also an inspired interpreter of the Russian and French repertories and moreover a specialist of the music of Béla Bartok.

Ervin Acèl was an outstanding teacher of orchestral conducting, first organizing masterclasses for young conductors in Romania from 1983, in Hungary (Szeged) from 1992 to 1999, and in Austria (Vienna) from 1996. These courses became well known internationally, attracting numerous students from all over the world. Acél, a polyglot, established an easy rapport with the multinational groups of students, alternating with facility between English, German, Italian, French and also his two mother-tongues, Hungarian and Romanian. His method of instruction was deliberate and considerate and the results most impressive. He was greatly admired and beloved by his students, whom he called “my children”. From 1996, Acél taught conducting at the renowned Vienna Hochscule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst (formerly the Academy of Music and today the Vienna University of Music) in tandem with the Austrian conductor, Leopold Hager, until his death in 2006. During this period he also gave summer mastercourses in Vienna at the Wiener Musikseminar and also in Italy.

It was in Italy that he had the great honor to perform at the Castelgandolfo in Rome for the Pope John Paul II, conducting the Dances from Galanta by Zoltán Kodály with the Philharmonia Hungarica. Besides his teaching responsibilities in Vienna, he continued to conduct in Oradea (from 1999), Satu Mare, Timisoara and several other Romanian and Hungarian cities and also toured throughout Asia (Korea, Taiwan, Japan).

After a long disease Acél died on the 24 August 2006 in Vienna. He was buried in his home town in nearby Köszeg (Hungary).

Discography

M.Haydn: Symphony, P.52,M.Haydn: Symphony, P.42,M.Haydn: Pastorello in C major, P.91,M.Haydn: Symphony, P.28,M.Haydn: Symphony, P.26,M.Haydn: Symphony, P.29;Ervin Acél; Oradea Philharmonic Orchestra;OLYMPIA OCD 404

M.Haydn: Violin concerto, P.33,M.Haydn: M.Haydn concerto, P.54;Ervin Acél; Oradea Philharmonic Orchestra/Soloists: Gheorghe Ille, Ecaterina Botar, Alexandru Iosif Turzo;OLYMPIA OCD 405

M.Haydn: Concerto, B flat major, P.53,M.Haydn: Concerto, C major, P.55;Ervin Acél; Oradea Philharmonic Orchestra;OLYMPIA OCD 406

M.Haydn: Symphony, P.10, M.Haydn: Symphony, P.20,M.Haydn: Symphony, P.11;Ervin Acél; Oradea Philharmonic Orchestra;OLYMPIA OCD 407

C.A.Nilsen: Concerto for flute and orchestra, I.Partos: Concerto for flute and orchestra, J.Ibert: Concerto for flute and orchestra; Ervin Acél; Oradea Philharmonic Orchestra / Soloist: Naum Buchmann;OLYMPIA OCD 420

D. Kabalevsky: Symphony No.1 in C sharp minor, op.18,D. Kabalevsky: Symphony No.2 in C minor, op.19;Ervin Acél; Szeged Philharmonic Orchestra;OLYMPIA OCD 268

Links

Oradea Philharmony Orchestra: http://www.oradeaphilharmony.com
Szeged Philharmony Orchestra: http://symph.szegedvaros.hu/en_home.html
The main conductors of the Szeged Philharmony Orchestra (in hungarian): http://symph.szegedvaros.hu/kor_ig.html
Vienna University of Music: http://www.mdw.ac.at
The last mastercourses at the Vienna Musikseminar: http://www.musikseminar.at/kurse_2005/pers/acel_e.html
Satu Mare Philharmonic Orchestra (in romanian): http://filarmonicasm.ro
Philharmony of Timisoara: http://www.filarmonicabanatul.ro/
Ervin Acél at the Vienna Musikverein: http://www.musikverein.at/konzerte/konzertprogramm.asp?idx=10069
Istanbul State Opera and Ballett: http://www.idobale.com/liste_programen.php