János Fürst (8 August 1935 – 3 January 2007) was a Hungarian-born conductor and violinist.

Biography

Fürst was born in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

to a Jewish-Hungarian family. He originally studied the

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

at the

Franz Liszt Academy of Music The Franz Liszt Academy of Music (, often abbreviated as ''Zeneakadémia'', "Liszt Academy") is a music university and a concert hall in Budapest, Hungary, founded on November 14, 1875. It is home to the Liszt Collection, which features several ...

in his native

. After the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary, he continued studies at the conservatory in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

. He attended the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

and there won a ''Premier Prix''. He took a job in 1958 with the Radio Éireann Symphony Orchestra, and developed his career as an orchestra leader. In 1963, Fürst founded the Irish Chamber Orchestra, and developed his conducting career from that point. On the formation of the

Ulster Orchestra The Ulster Orchestra is a full-time professional orchestra in Northern Ireland. Based in Belfast, the orchestra plays the majority of its concerts in Belfast's Ulster Hall and Waterfront Hall. It also gives concerts across the United Kingdom ...

in 1966, Fürst became its concertmaster, and later its assistant conductor in 1971. He held positions as Chief Conductor and Music Director with orchestras in

Malmö Malmö is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, third-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, sixth-largest city in Nordic countries, the Nordic region. Located on ...

(1974–77),

Aalborg Aalborg or Ålborg ( , , ) is Denmark's List of cities and towns in Denmark, fourth largest urban settlement (behind Copenhagen, Aarhus, and Odense) with a population of 119,862 (1 July 2022) in the town proper and an Urban area, urban populati ...

(1980–83),

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Winterthur Winterthur (; ) is a city in the canton of Zurich in northern Switzerland. With over 120,000 residents, it is the country's List of cities in Switzerland, sixth-largest city by population, as well as its ninth-largest agglomeration with about 14 ...

(1990–94) and was Chief Guest Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. Fürst was music director of the Opéra de Marseille from 1981 to 1990. He was also a frequent guest at English National Opera, Scottish Opera and the Royal Stockholm Opera. In 1978 he conducted the premiere of ''Salome'' by Sir

Peter Maxwell Davies Sir Peter Maxwell Davies (8 September 1934 – 14 March 2016) was an English composer and conductor, who in 2004 was made Master of the Queen's Music. As a student at both the University of Manchester and the Royal Manchester College of Music ...

and subsequently recorded it. He also made numerous recordings for Vox Records with the

Bamberg Symphony Orchestra The Bamberg Symphony (German: Bamberger Symphoniker – Bayerische Staatsphilharmonie) is a renowned German orchestra top-class orchestra that has been residing in Bamberg since its foundation in 1946 and travels the world as a touring orchestra. ...

, including some rarely heard orchestral music of

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer during the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally. Tchaikovsky wrote some of the most popular ...

released in the mid-1970s; some of the recordings have been reissued on CD. Fürst was known as a fine teacher. A number of his students at the

Paris Conservatoire The Conservatoire de Paris (), or the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (; CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue Jean Ja ...

won prestigious conducting competitions. He worked with youth orchestras including the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Late in life he was invited to become head of orchestral conducting at

Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music (RCM) is a conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the undergraduate to the doctoral level in all aspects of Western Music including pe ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, but he did not live enough to take up the post.

Death

Fürst died of cancer in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

in 2007. He was married three times. His first wife, Antoinette (now Antoinette Kirshbaum), his third wife and two sons survived him.

Awards and nominations

ARIA Music Awards

The

ARIA Music Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austr ...

is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of

Australian music The music of Australia has an extensive history made of music societies. Indigenous Australian music forms a significant part of the unique heritage of a 40,000- to 60,000-year history which produced the iconic didgeridoo. Contemporary fusions o ...

. They commenced in 1987. ! , - ,

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

, ''Powerhouse Three Poems of Byron – Capriccio Nocturnes Unchained Melody'' (with Adelaide Symphony Orchestra & David Porcelijn) , Best Classical Album , , ARIA Award previous winners. , -

References

External links

Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Furst, Janos 1935 births 2007 deaths Academics of the Royal College of Music Conservatoire de Paris alumni Academic staff of the Conservatoire de Paris Franz Liszt Academy of Music alumni Deaths from cancer in France 20th-century conductors (music) Concertmasters Hungarian classical violinists Male classical violinists Hungarian male conductors (music) Hungarian expatriates in France Hungarian Jews Jewish classical musicians Musicians from Budapest RTÉ Performing Groups 20th-century classical violinists 20th-century Hungarian male musicians