Kurtág György
Born in Lugos (now Lugoj, Romania) in 1926, from 1940 he took piano lessons with Magda Kardos and studied composition with Max Eisikovits in Timişoara. In 1946 he was admitted to the Budapest Academy of Music, where he continued his studies under Sándor Veress and Ferenc Farkas (composition), Pál Kadosa (piano) and Leó Weiner (chamber music). In 1957–58 he completed his music education under Marianna Stein in Paris. He also attended courses conducted by Olivier Messiaen and Darius Milhaud. In 1960–68 he coached soloists at the Hungarian National Philharmonic. From 1968 to his retirement in 1986 he was professor of chamber music at the Budapest Academy of Music.
György Kurtág’s international reputation began to take hold with Messages of the Late Miss R. V. Troussova for soprano and chamber ensemble, which had its premiere in Paris in 1981. Since the early 1990s, he has worked abroad with increasing frequency: he was composer in residence at the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (1993–95) and the Vienna Konzerthausgesellschaft (1995). He then lived in the Netherlands (1996–98), again in Berlin (1998–99) and upon invitation by Ensemble intercontemporain, Cité de la Mu sique and Festival d’Automne, in Paris (1999–2001).
His numerous honours include the Kossuth Award (1973, 1996), the BartókPásztory Award (1984), and memberships of the Art Academies in Munich and West Berlin. In 1985 he was named Officier dans l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government. In 2006 he won the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition for his ...concertante...
György Kurtág and his wife have lived near Bor deaux since 2002.
S e l e c t e d w o r k s ( s i n c e 1 9 9 0 ): Double Concerto for piano, cello and two chamber ensembles (1989–90), Samuel Beckett: What is the Word for reciting contralto, voices and chamber ensemble (1991), Aus der Ferne for string quartet (1991), Curriculum vitae for two basset horns and two pianos (1992), Songs of Despair and Sorrow to words by Russian poets for choir and instrumental ensemble (1980–94), Un brin de bruyère à Witold for piano or cimbalom (1994), Stele for large orchestra (1994), Messagesfor choir and orchestra (1991–96), Hölderlin-Gesänge, Book 1, for baritone and instruments (1993–97), Four Capriccios, Op. 9 for soprano and ensemble (1970–71/1997), …pas à pas – nulle part…for baritone and instruments, to words by Samuel Beckett (1993–98), Aus der Ferne No. 5 for string quartet (1999), …concertante… for violin, viola and orchestra (2003), Hipartia for violin (2000–04), Sinfonia breve per archi – Fried Márta emlékére for small string orchestra (2004), 6 Moments musicaux for string quartet (1999–2005), Hommage à Jacob Obrechtfor string quartet (2004–05), Colindă – Baladăfor tenor, two mixed choirs and instrumental ensemble (2000–07), Triptic for two violins (2007), Varga Bálint Ligaturája for violin, cello and piano (2007), Four Poems by Anna Akhmatova for soprano and chamber ensemble (1997–2008), Új üzenetek zenekarrapourfor orchestra (1998–2008), Games for various instruments (1973–2010), Brefs messagesfor instrumental ensemble (2010).
