László Somogyi

László Somogyi ( born June 25, 1907 in Budapest, Austria - Hungary, † 20 May 1988 in Geneva ) was a Hungarian conductor.

Life

László Somogyi studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music under Zoltán Kodály and Leo Weiner. After the Second World War he was in 1945 appointed Ferenc Fricsay along with chief conductor of the Budapest Metropolitan Orchestra, today's Hungarian National Orchestra. He then became chief conductor of the Hungarian Radio Orchestra, conducted the Budapest Symphony Orchestra and taught composition at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. He also guested at the Budapest Opera. Somogyi 1951 received the Kossuth Prize.

After the Hungarian uprising in 1956, he emigrated to the West. From 1964 to 1969 he headed the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra in the U.S. state of New York. Then he moved to Geneva and continued to work as a guest conductor with various orchestras.