Somogyi, László
Somogyi, László
Somogyi, László, Hungarian conductor; b. Budapest, June 25, 1907; d. Geneva, May 20, 1988. He learned to play the violin; after training in composition with Kodály at the Budapest Academy of Music (1930–34), he studied conducting with Scherchen in Brussels (1935). He was a violinist in the Budapest Concert Orch. (1930–39), and then was founder-conductor of the Goldmark Sym. Orch. in Budapest (1939–43), a Jewish ensemble; subsequently he was chief conductor of the Municipal Sym. Orch. (1945–51) and the Sym. Orch. of the Hungarian Radio (1951–56) in Budapest, and also was prof. of conducting at the Academy of Music there (1949–56). In succeeding years, he lived abroad and toured as a guest conductor throughout Europe and the U.S. before serving as music director of the Rochester (N.Y.) Phil. (1964–69).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire