Harsanyi, Nicholas
Harsanyi, Nicholas
Harsanyi, Nicholas, Hungarian-born American conductor and teacher; b. Budapest, Dec. 17, 1913; d. Tallahassee, July 19, 1987. He was a pupil of Hubay, Bartók, Dohnányi, Kodály, and Weiner at the Budapest Academy of Music (M.M., 1936). In 1938 he emigrated to the U.S. and in 1943 became a naturalized American citizen. He played in the Lener (1945–47) and Roth (1948–50) string quartets, and also taught at Westminster Choir Coll. in Princeton, N.J. (1948–69) and at Princeton Univ. (1953–68). He was conductor of the Princeton (N.J.) Sym. Orch. (1950–65), the Philadelphia Chamber Orch. (1955–58), the Colonial Sym. Orch. in Madison, N.J. (1955–65), the Trenton (N.J.) Sym. Orch. (1958–65), the Princeton (N.J.) Chamber Orch. (1964–70), and the Interlochen (Mich.) Arts Academy Orch. (1968–70). From 1970 to 1979 he was dean of the N.C. School of the Arts in Winston-Salem, where he conducted its orch. as well as the Piedmont Chamber Orch. In 1980 he founded the Tallahassee Sym. Orch., which he served as music director until his death. In 1952 he married Janice (née Morris) Harsanyi.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire