Miklós Erdélyi

Miklós Erdélyi (9 February 1928 – 1 September 1993) was an award-winning Hungarian conductor.

Life

Miklós Erdélyi was born in Budapest and from 1946-1951 studied at the Budapest Franz Liszt Music Academy with John Ferencsik for conducting, Kókai Rezső for composition and Zalánfy Aladar for organ. He began his career as a conductor in Budapest in 1950-51 as deputy leader of the Hungarian Radio Choir. From 1949 to 1951 he was the Budapest Harmonia Concert Orchestra conductor.^[1]

In 1957 Erdélyi was appointed conductor of the state Operaház in Budapest and soon became highly respected as an opera conductor, later becoming manager of the opera, as well. His most outstanding achievement with the opera was performance of Mozart works, but he also worked to improve music presentations and conducted world premiere opera. Works connected to his name include: Mihály András' Together and alone (1967) and Gyorgy Ranki's The Tragedy of Man (1969). He also directed the Hungarian premier of Monteverdi's Coronation of Poppea (1968).

In 1969 Erdélyi recorded Prokofiev's War and Peace for Rome Radio, and from 1977-82 served as a regular guest conductor with the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 1986 he worked with the Tokyo Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra.^[2]

Miklós Erdélyi's work was characterized by meticulous craftsmanship and musical lyricism and his recordings are widely available. He was recognized for professionalism, musicality, music history, and literary awareness, as well as the ability to conduct different styles of music. During the Hungarian period of artistic repression, he was considered an important figure in alternative theater.^[3] In 1960 his work was recognized by the Franz Liszt Prize and in 1975 with the Kossuth Prize. In 1967 he received the Artist of Merit award and in 1985 the Outstanding Artist Award.^[4] He died in Budapest.

References

1. ^ Fekete, Márton (1973). Prominent Hungarians; home and abroad. 
2. ^ Grove, Sir George; Sadie, Stanley (1980). The New Grove dictionary of music and musicians: Volume 6. 
3. ^ Klimke, Martin; Scharloth, Joachim (2008). 1968 in Europe: a history of protest and activism, 1956-1977. 
4. ^ International who's who in music and musicians' directory, Volume 11. 1988. 

Persondata
Name	Erdelyi, Miklos
Alternative names
Short description	Composer and conductor
Date of birth	9 February 1928
Place of birth	Budapest, Hungary
Date of death	1 September 1993
Place of death	Budapest, Hungary