György Kurtág

György Kurtág, born on 19 February 1926 in Lugoj, Romania, to Hungarian Jewish parents, is a Hungarian composer. From an early age he spoke Hungarian, Romanian, and German. From the age of 14 he took piano lessons with Magda Kardos and studied composition with Max Eisikovits in Timișoara. He moved to Budapest in 1946 and obtained Hungarian citizenship in 1948. There he began his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where he met his future wife, Márta Kinsker, as well as the composer György Ligeti, who became a close friend. At the Academy, his piano teacher was Pál Kadosa. He studied composition with Sándor Veress and Ferenc Farkas, chamber music with Leó Weiner, and theory with Lajos Bárdos, before graduating in piano and chamber music in 1951. He married Márta in 1947, and their son György was born in 1954. He obtained his composition diploma in 1955 with a viola concerto that earned him the Erkel Prize.