09/08/1914, Budapest, Austria-Hungary Empire – 20/02/1963, Basel, Switzerland
Hungarian conductor. He studied music under Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály, Ernst von Dohnányi, and Leó Weiner. In 1930, at the age of 16, he succeeded his father as conductor of the Young Musicians Orchestra of Budapest. On graduating in 1933, Fricsay became répétiteur for the chorus of the Budapest Opera; then, from 1933 to 1943, he was music director of the Szeged Philharmonic Orchestra in the third largest city in Hungary; he also served as director of its military band from 1933. In 1945 he became principal conductor of the Budapest Opera. He conducted opera at the Vienna Volksoper and at the Salzburg Festival in the late 1940s. The enthusiastic reception of Fricsay's work on this international stage led to his appointment Chief Conductor of the Berlin RIAS Symphony Orchestra and General Music Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, from 1949 to 1952. He made his United Kingdom debut at the 1950 Edinburgh International Festival and at the Glyndebourne Festival. Throughout his carrear he conducted the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Israel Philharmonic and others. He spent much of his time from the 1950s onward in Germany as music director of the Bavarian State Opera (1956–1958) and as conductor of the RIAS Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Berlin Philharmonic. Also in 1956, he was appointed General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera, a position he held until 1958.
