Artist database

6 November 1917, Budapest – 19 September 1993, Budapest

András Mihály was admitted to the Academy of Music in 1934. Received his cellist degree in Adolf Schiffer's class at the Academy of Music, where he studied chamber music with Leó Weiner and Imre Waldbauer. Just like Sárai, he studied composing privately, with Pál Kaodsa and István Strassner. Beginning in 1941, he conducted workers’ choirs and founded his own string quartet. In 1944, he was imprisoned in a concentration camp for one year.

In 1946, he became the principal cellist of the Opera House, while also serving as secretary of the Philharmonic Society. From 1948, he worked for two years as general secretary of the Opera House under the direction of Aladár Tóth. From 1949 onward, he taught for four decades at the Ferenc Liszt College of Music (now the Ferenc Liszt Academy of Music), serving as department chair from 1950 to 1992; he gave up teaching cello at the beginning of his pedagogical career. In 1968, he founded the Budapest Chamber Ensemble, at the helm of which he made invaluable contributions to the promotion of contemporary music. From 1962 to 1978, he served as music editor for Hungarian Radio, and from 1978 to 1987, he was director of the Opera House. In 1973, he conducted the Hungarian premiere of Alban Berg’s opera Lulu at the Opera House, as well as Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress at the Erkel Theater. In the final years of his life, he led the symphony orchestra of the Academy of Music. He also taught regularly abroad (Sweden, England - Darlington). He hosted an educational lecture series on Hungarian Television and composed the music for several films.

He passed away in Budapest on September 19, 1993, at the age of 75. In 2021, the Hungarian State Opera House elected him a posthumous lifetime member.

Awards:

1952 Erkel Award
1954 Erkel Award
1955 Kossuth Prize
1964 Erkel Award
1967 Erkel Award
1969 Merited Artist
1972 Liszt Award
1974 Excellent Artist
1986 Pro Artibus Artisjus Medal


see also: Mihály András - conductor