Ormandy, Eugene
ORMANDY, EUGENE
ORMANDY, EUGENE (1899–1985), conductor. Born in Budapest and a child prodigy, Ormandy studied the violin with Hubay and became a teacher at the Budapest Academy, later playing as first violinist with the Bluethner Orchestra in Berlin. After touring in the United States in 1921, he settled there and in 1924 began a career as conductor in New York. After conducting the New York Philharmonic and Minneapolis orchestras, among others, he became first the associate conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra (with Leopold Stokowski; 1936–1938) and then its permanent conductor, raising it to the status of one of the major orchestras of the world. He retired in August 1980 after 44 years as its musical director, but was appointed conductor laureate. He specialized in 19th-century and modern music, and always conducted from memory.