Ferenc Farkas

Ferenc Farkas [ fɛrɛnʦ fɒrkɒʃ ] (* December 15 1905 in Nagykanizsa; † 10 October 2000 in Budapest) was a Hungarian composer.

Farkas was initially a pianist and studied at the Academy of Music in Budapest in Albert Sikos and Leó Weiner and then went to Rome the Accademia di Santa Cecilia, where he became a pupil of Ottorino Respighi. He worked as a composer for film studios in Vienna and Copenhagen active, before returning in 1936 to Hungary. From 1941 to 1944 he was a professor at the Conservatory in Cluj, of which he was. In 1949 he became professor at the Academy of Music in Budapest, where he taught until his retirement in 1975. His students there included some of the most important Hungarian composers of the second half of the 20th century, such as Attila Bozay, Zsolt Durkó, György Kurtág, György Ligeti, Emil Petrovic, Zoltán Jeney and Sándor Szokolay.

Farkas has composed for all chamber instruments, even for rare instruments such as the baritone and the alphorn. His work includes more than 700 compositions.