Artist database

21 December 1933, Debrecen - 29 August 2019

He started to play the piano when he was a child, but his regular studies began only later, at the Conservatory of Debrecen as a pupil of Emil Szabó. Between 1954 and 1959 he studied composition with Ferenc Farkas at the Lisyt Ferenc Academy of Music, graduating in 1959.

Between 1963 and 1972 he worked as musical director and conductor of the Madách Theatre in Budapest, in 1972 he joined the staff of the Béla Bartók Secondary School for Music as a teacher of composition. In 1974 he also became a leading member of the folk music programme at the Hungarian Radio, and from 1983 to 1995 he was deputy head of the Radio’s Music Department. In his versatile composing activity we can find chamber music, orchestral music and concertos, but also his vocal compositions are significant: airs, choirs, cantatas and oratorios. His works can be recognized by the aiming for beautiful sound and strict formal proportions.

Miklós Kocsár was awarded with the Erkel Prize in 1973 and 1980. In 1987 he became Merited Artist of the Hungarian People’s Republic. In 1992 he received the Bartók-Pásztory Award. In 2000 he was honoured with the Kossuth Prize, in 2004 with the KÓTA Prize and in 2005 with the Kölcsey Plaque.

Works:

Orchestral works: Capriccio; Varianti; Metamorphoses; Sequenze; Formazioni; Ballata sinfonica

Concertos: Concerto in memoriam ZH - horn; Elegia - bassoon; Cello concerto; Concerto da Camera - violin; Concertino - two flutes; Concerto lirico - viola

Chamber works: String quartet, three Wind quartets; Solo sonata - violin; Trio sonata - violin, cello, piano; Capricorn concerto - flute, chamber orchestra; Quintetto d’ottoni; Rapsodia - trumpet, piano, percussion; Tone-colour Games - two flutes; Echoes No.1,-2,-3,-4 - horns

Vocal works: For Love Wanders There - cantata; Visions of the Night - oratorio; Magnificat - mixed choir, string orchestra; Stabat Mater - mixed choir, orchestra; Music of the seasons; Lily song; Zithers of Fire; The Miracle Stag; Mountain climbing - Six Folk Prayers; Someone is walking on the Hill of Trees; three masses; Salve Regina; Libera me; six Maria chants; Jubilate Deo; Six choruses; Knick-knacks; Cat and Dog; Two Christmas Motets; Invocation for Spring; Christmas, black glory.

Also a number of airs for poems by Sándor Petőfi, Attila József, Árpád Tóth, Miklós Radnóti, Lajos Kassák, Sándor Weöres, Margit Szécsi, Sándor Kányádi and Federico Garcia Lorca.

Since 2011 Miklós Kocsár was a full member of Hungarian Academy of Arts.