László Tihanyi


László Tihanyi is a Hungarian composer and conductor.

Biography

László Tihanyi was born in Budapest, Hungary on March 21, 1956, and pursued musical studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, where he studied composition with Rezső Sugár and conducting with András Kórodi. Since 1979, Tihanyi serves as a devoted professor at the Academy of Music, where he acted also as vice-rector between 2000 and 2005.
He regularly conducts at home and abroad, typically 20th century classical and contemporary programmes. He appeared with all major Hungarian orchestras and significant European contemporary music ensembles, as Ensemble Modern, Contrechamps and MusikFabrik. In 1991, he participated in the production of Maderna's Hyperion at the Festival D'Automne à Paris and the subsequent European tour. In 2002, Péter Eötvös asked him to be second conductor of his opera Three Sisters for the 2002 production for the Wiener Festwochen.
In 1985, founded his own instrumental ensemble, the Intermodulation, dedicated to 20th and 21st Century music, and has been the artistic director since then.
Tihanyi is the winner of prestigious awards, including the Erkel prize and the Bartók-Pásztory prize.
Beside being the "composer-in-residence" of the Ensemble Intermodulation, his works are performed all over Europe: the Hungarian Radio commissioned Irrlichtspiel, for violin and ensemble in 1991. Then the Componensemble premiered Winterszenen. In 1992, Summer Music was dedicated to and premiered by the Ensemble Contrechamps in 1992, one of the as yet most performed chamber setting by Tihanyi. In 1994 L’Épitaph du Soldat was commissioned by Radio France, and Serenata for four instruments by Rainbow over Bath in 1996. Schattenspiel was composed for members of the Forrás Chamber Music Workshop in 1997, and premiered in its original, four-movement version in the same year in Vienna. In 1998, two Swiss foundations, Pro Helvetia and the Zuger Kulturstiftung Landis & Gyr commissioned Matrix for four hands. Atte was premiered in 1999 in Berlin by the UMZE Ensemble. The soloists were Csaba Klenyán and György Déri. In 2002, Musikfabrik premiered Kosmos, and a number of further commissions followed, one of which was the 20 Night Meditations for 8 soloists and orchestra with double strings, that had its western hemisphere premiere in February 2007 at The Juilliard School, New York.
His commission by the Opéra National de Bordeaux and the French state for his first opera Genitrix, based on the novel by François Mauriac, premiered on November 25, 2007 in Bordeaux.

Prizes and awards