Solti, Sir Georg

Solti, Sir Georg (shôltē), 1912–97, English conductor, b. Hungary. He made his conducting debut in Budapest (1933) and later led orchestras in Switzerland, Germany, and France. Solti gained fame as music director (1969–91) of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He was also principal conductor of the London Philharmonic (1979–83) and several other orchestras.

Bibliography

See his Memoirs (1997).

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Solti, Sir Georg

 orig. György Stern Solti

(born Oct. 21, 1912, Budapest, Hung.—died Sept. 5, 1997, Antibes, France) Hungarian-born British conductor. After making his piano debut at age 12, he studied piano with Béla Bartók and composition with Zoltán Kodály. He was Arturo Toscanini's assistant at Salzburg (1936–37). In Switzerland when World War II broke out, he returned to piano, winning the 1942 Geneva International Competition. He led the Bavarian State Opera in Munich (1945–52), and then he moved to Frankfurt (1952–61). As director of Covent Garden (1961–71), he made the first complete recording of Richard Wagner's Ring cycle (1958–65), which remains one of the celebrated recordings of all time. Under Solti (1969–91), the Chicago Symphony Orchestra won extraordinary praise and success.