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Zoltán Kocsis

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The native form of this personal name is Kocsis Zoltán. This article uses Western name order when mentioning individuals.

Zoltán Kocsis (Hungarian: [ˈzoltaːn ˈkot͡ʃiʃ]; 30 May 1952 – 6 November 2016) was a Hungarian pianist, conductor and composer.[1]

Zoltán Kocsis in 1972

Biography

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Studies

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Born in Budapest, he began his musical studies at the age of five and continued them at the Béla Bartók Conservatory in 1963, studying piano and composition.[2] In 1968 he was admitted to the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where he was a pupil of Pál Kadosa, Ferenc Rados and György Kurtág, graduating in 1973.

Career

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Kocsis in 1971

He won the Hungarian Radio Beethoven Competition in 1970, and made his first concert tour of the United States in the following year.[3] He received the Liszt Prize in 1973, and the Kossuth Prize in 1978.[3]

Kocsis performed with the Berlin Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Philharmonia of London, and the Vienna Philharmonic.[4] Kocsis recorded the complete solo piano works and works with piano and orchestra of Béla Bartók.[5] In 1990, his recording of Debussy's Images[6] won "The Gramophone" Instrumental Award for that year. He won another with the violinist Barnabás Kelemen in 2013 in the chamber category for the recording of Bartók's Violin Sonatas Nos 1 & 2.[7]

American critic Harold C. Schonberg praised Kocsis' extraordinary technique and fine piano tone.[8] According to Grove Music Online, he had "an impressive technique, and his forthright, strongly rhythmic playing is nevertheless deeply felt and never mechanical. Kocsis has a natural affinity for Bach, but is also a fine exponent of contemporary music and has given the first performances of works by Kurtág."[3]

Conductor

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Kocsis co-founded with Iván Fischer the Budapest Festival Orchestra in 1983, thus opening a new epoch in the history of Hungarian orchestral playing.[3] Kocsis played a key role in the direction and the development of the program policy of the orchestra from its founding, and from 1987 also appeared as a conductor at their concerts.

He became the musical director of the Hungarian National Philharmonic in 1997 and held the title until his death in 2016.

Compositions

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In addition to his compositions, Kocsis made piano transcriptions[9] of works by Wagner, Rachmaninov,[10] Bartók[4] and Debussy. Kocsis completed the last act of Schoenberg's opera Moses und Aron, with the permission of Schoenberg's heirs, in 2010.

Personal life

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He was married to pianist Adrienne Hauser from 1986. They had two children, Mark and Rita. In 1997 he married pianist Erika Tóth. They had a son, Krisztian, also a pianist, and a daughter, Viktoria.[10] Kocsis died following a long illness after undergoing heart surgery on 6 November 2016, aged 64, in his native Budapest.[11]

Selected works

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Opera

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  • Kopogtatások (1984–85)
  • A vacsora (1984–85)
  • Kiállítás (1984–85)

Orchestral and chamber music

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  • Premiere, for string orchestra (1976)
  • Fészek (1975–76)
  • The last but one encounter (Utolsó előtti találkozás), for piano and harpsichord (1981)
  • 33. December, for chamber ensemble (1983)
  • Memento, for string orchestra (Chernobyl) (1986)
  • The last encounter (Utolsó találkozás) (1990)

References

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  1. ^ "Kocsis Zoltán". Zeneakademia.hu. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  2. ^ Hungaroton LP SLPX11711 Liner Notes.
  3. ^ a b c d Várnai, Péter P. (28 February 2002) [20 January 2001]. "Zoltán Kocsis". Grove Music Online (8th ed.). Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0.
  4. ^ a b "Zoltán Kocsis, pianist and 'giant of music', dies aged 64". The Guardian. London. Agence France-Presse. 6 November 2016. Retrieved 4 November 2019.
  5. ^ Zoltán Kocsis plays Bartók, Philips 8 CD set 475 6720.
  6. ^ Now issued as Philips CD 475 210-2.
  7. ^ "The gramophone, 2013". Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  8. ^ Harold C. Schonberg, The Great Pianists from Mozart to the Present, Second Edition, Simon & Schuster, 1987
  9. ^ "Zoltán Kocsis (1952-2016)". Presto Music. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  10. ^ a b "Zoltán Kocsis obituary". the Guardian. 11 November 2016. Retrieved 14 January 2022.
  11. ^ "Meghalt Kocsis Zoltán, a Nemzeti Filharmonikusok vezetője". index.hu. 6 November 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2022.

Further reading

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Obituaries

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Preceded by Principal Conductors, Hungarian National Philharmonic Orchestra
1997–2016 		Succeeded by
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