László Istvan Heltay (5 January 1930 – 17 December 2019) was a Hungarian-born British conductor and choral director. Heltay is best known for contributing to the establishment of the Brighton Festival Chorus, the Chorus of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the Schola Cantorum of Oxford. He was described as:
László Istvan Heltay (5 January 1930 – 17 December 2019) was a Hungarian-born British conductor and choral director. Heltay is best known for contributing to the establishment of the Brighton Festival Chorus, the Chorus of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and the Schola Cantorum of Oxford. He was described as:
"...one of the finest and most inspiring choral trainers in the world...through his efforts the whole British choral tradition has been given a new look and a new set of standards to aim for."
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László Heltaya lăsat un gând
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Early life and education
Heltay was born in Budapest, Hungary, to László Heltay Sr, a scientist, and Gizella Heltay, née Somogy. After leaving school he studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. At the academy, he studied under Lajos Bárdos and became a friend as well as a pupil of the composer Zoltán Kodály.
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László Heltaya lăsat un gând
acum 4 zile
Career After graduation, Heltay worked as a conductor for radio stations and local church choirs. Following the failed Hungarian revolution in 1956, he emigrated to Britain, arriving as a 26-year-old refugee speaking barely any English: all he possessed was his grandfather's overcoat, a letter of recommendation from Kodály and a box of conducting batons. After attending a language school in Leeds he settled in London, where he cleaned offices in Oxford Street. From 1960 to 1964, Heltay studied for his MLitt at Merton College, Oxford. He had founded the college's Kodály Choir in 1957 and commissioned the composer to create a cantata from Arthur O'Shaughnessy’s ode We are The Music Makers for Merton's 700th anniversary in 1964. As musical director at Merton, a post created for him, Heltay established in 1960 the Collegium Musicum Oxoniense choir, now the Schola Cantorum of Oxford. The choir's purity of sound and its instrumental approach to the score challenged the more mannered styles prevalent in Britain at the time. Between 1964 and 1966, Heltay lived and worked in New Zealand, where he conducted the NZBC Symphony Orchestra and was Director of Music at the New Zealand Opera. He gave the antipodean première of Britten's…
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László Heltaya lăsat un gând
acum 4 zile
Personal life
Heltay became a British citizen in 1957. In Britain, he married Hilary Nicholson in 1964. The couple separated in 1966, but never divorced.
Other than music, Heltay's main interests were books, football, tennis, chess, and dogs.
Heltay died of cancer in December 2019, and was buried in Farkasréti Cemetery, as are Bárdos, Kodály, Bela Bartok and Georg Solti.
