István Kertész facts for kids

István Kertész (born in Budapest, Hungary, on August 28, 1929; died near Tel Aviv, Israel, on April 16, 1973) was a very famous Hungarian conductor. He was known for leading many great orchestras around the world.

Early Life and Music Journey

István Kertész was born in Budapest, Hungary. His family was Jewish. His father worked as a director at a leather factory. When his father passed away in 1938, István's mother needed to find work to support their family. It was tough for women to find jobs in Hungary back then, but she managed to succeed.

István began learning the violin when he was just six years old. A few years later, he also started playing the piano. He loved music from a young age.

Music During Difficult Times

During World War II, when the Nazis took over Hungary, István's family had to hide to stay safe. Sadly, many of his family members were found and did not survive. Even during these very hard times, István’s mother encouraged him to keep practicing his music.

After the war ended, István finished school. He then went to the Royal Academy of Music in Budapest. This school is now called the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. There, he studied the violin, piano, and how to write music (called composition). One of his important teachers was Zoltán Kodály. Soon, István became very interested in leading orchestras, which is called conducting. He learned a lot from famous conductors like Bruno Walter and Otto Klemperer.

A Conductor's Career

From 1953 to 1955, István Kertész conducted orchestras in places like Győr and for the Budapest Opera. After a big event in Hungary in 1956 (called the uprising), he and his family decided to leave their home country. They moved to Germany, where István later became a German citizen.

Leading Orchestras Worldwide

Kertész became a conductor in Augsburg from 1958 to 1963, and then in Cologne. He first performed in Great Britain in 1960 with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. Later, he conducted the famous London Symphony Orchestra. His first performances in America were in 1961, when he toured with the Hamburg RSO.

In 1965, he conducted at the Covent Garden in London. After that, he took over as the main conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.

István Kertész knew a huge amount of music and conducted almost all of the world’s greatest orchestras. He led many operas and especially loved the music of composers like Béla Bartók, Henze, Igor Stravinsky, and Benjamin Britten. He was the first to perform Britten’s War Requiem in Vienna. He also led the first performance in Germany of Britten's opera Billy Budd. He made many recordings of his performances.

A Sad End

On April 16, 1973, while on a concert tour, István Kertész tragically drowned while swimming off the coast of Israel near Tel Aviv. He was survived by his wife, his three children, his mother, and his sister.