Composer, conductor and teacher: the Hungarian Peter Eötvös combines all three functions in one high-profile career. He turns 70 today. Happy birthday, Maestro!Peter Eötvös’ music features regularly in the programs of orchestras, contemporary music ensembles and festivals worldwide; and as composer/conductor he has led projects focusing on his work in centers such as Paris, London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Vienna. His most recent operas, Love and Other Demons and Angels in America, are following the lead of his Three Sisters by generating an ever-increasing number of new productions; and several major music theatre commissions are due in the next few years.
Peter Eötvös is one of the best known interpreters of 20th century music. He is regularly invited as guest conductor by orchestras including Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France; BBC Symphony; Wiener Philharmoniker, Cleveland Orchestra, NHK Orchestra Tokyo, Ensemble InterContemporain, Ensemble Modern. From 2009 to 2012 he was First Guest Conductor at Radio Symphony Orchestra in Vienna.
Equally important to Peter Eötvös are his teaching activities – especially his work at his own Contemporary Music Foundation for young conductors and composers in Budapest.
He was born in Transsylvania, received diplomas from Budapest Academy of Music (composition) and Hochschule für Musik in Cologne (conducting). Between 1968 and 1976 he performed regularly with the Stockhausen Ensemble. From 1971 to 1979 he collaborated with the electronic music studio of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk in Cologne.
In 1978, at the invitation of Pierre Boulez, he conducted the inaugural concert of IRCAM in Paris, and was subsequently named musical director of the Ensemble InterContemporain, a post he held until 1991.
Since his Proms debut in 1980 he has made regular appearances in London. From 1985-1988 he was Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.
From 1992-98 he was professor at the Hochschule für Musik in Karlsruhe, and from 1998-2001 at Cologne’s Hochschule für Musik. He returns to his post at the Musikhochschule Karlsruhe between 2002-2007. In 1991 he founded the International Eötvös Institute and Foundation, in 2004 the Eötvös Contemporary Music Foundation in Budapest for young conductors and composers.
He regularly conducts master courses and seminars all over the world, e.g. Paris, Luzern, Basel, Luxembourg, Szombathely, Madrid etc.
His many compositions (e.g. Atlantis, zeroPoints, Shadows, Levitation, CAP-KO, SEVEN, DoReMi) and operas (Three sisters, Le Balcon, Angels in America, Love and Other Demons) are regularly performed throughout the world. His works have been recorded by BIS AG, BMC, DGG, ECM, KAIROS, col legno, Naive and his music is published by Editio Musica (Budapest), Ricordi (Munich), Salabert (Paris), Schott Music (Mainz).
