Peter Eötvös is one of the best known interpreters of 20th century music. He was born in 1944 in Transsylvania, received diplomas from Budapest Academy of Music (composition) and Hochschule für Musik in Cologne (conducting). Between 1968 and 1976 he played regularly with the Stockhausen Ensemble. From 1971 to 1979 he collaborated with the electronic music studio of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne.

In 1978, at the invitation of Pierre Boulez, he conducted the inaugural concert of IRCAM in Paris, and was subsequently named musical director of the Ensemble InterContemporain, a post he held until 1991. Since his Proms debut in 1980 he has made regular appearances in London. During 1985-1988 he was Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra. He was appointed First Guest Conductor at the Budapest Festival Orchestra in 1992-1995, Chief Conductor of the Radio Chamber Orchestra of Hilversum from 1994 and First Guest Conductor at National Philharmonic Orchestra (Budapest) from 1998. Other orchestras he has worked with include the most important Radio Orchestras in Europe, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonia, Orchestre de Paris, Los Angeles Philharmonic and New Japan Symphony Orchestra. He has also worked in opera houses including La Scala, Milan, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and La Monnaie, Brussels, with directors including Luca Ronconi, Robert Altman, Klaus-Michael Grüber, Robert Wilson.


In 1991 he founded the International Eötvös Institute and Foundation for young conductors and composers. During 1992-98 he was professor at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe, and since 1998 he has been professor at Cologne´s Hochschule für Musik.

He was awarded the Officier de l´Ordre des l´Arts et des Lettres by the French Cultural Minister in 1988, the Bartók Prize in Hungary in 1997 and the Christoph und Stephan Kaske Prize in Germany in 2000. In May 2001 he was awarded in Budapest with the newly founded Gundel-Prize for his theatre work As I Crossed a Bridge of Dreams. He is a member of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin, Szechenyi Academy of Art in Budapest and Sächsische Akademie der Künste in Dresden.


His many compositions are regularly performed throughout the world, and include Chinese Opera, Psychokosmos, Atlantis, Shadows, Two Monologues, Replica, zeroPoints and the opera Three Sisters. Three Sisters was awarded France´s Prix Claude-Rostand, Grand Prix de la Critique (1997/98) and Victoires de la Musique Classique et du Jazz (1999) and its CD won Grand Prix of Academie Charles Cros (1999), Diapason d´or de l´année 2000" in France, ECHO Preis 2000" in Germany and "Prix Caecilia" in Belgium (2000). In 2001 he won the Hungarian Classical Award of the Hungarian magazine Gramofon.

His works have been recorded by BIS AG, BMC, DGG, ECM, ERATO, Hungaroton and his music is published by Editio Musica (Budapest), Ricordi (Munich), Salabert (Paris), Schott Music (Mainz).

see also: Eötvös Péter - conductor