Somogi, Judith (1937–1988)

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Somogi, Judith (1937–1988)

American choral and orchestra conductor. Born on May 13, 1937, in Brooklyn, New York; died of cancer on March 23, 1988, in Rockville Center, Long Island, New York; daughter of Louis Somogi (a Hungarian) and Antonina Somogi (a Sicilian); Juilliard School of Music in New York, M.M. degree, 1961; never married; no children.

Was assistant conductor to Thomas Schippers and Leopold Stokowski before becoming conductor inNew York (1974) and principal conductor of the Frankfurt Opera (1982).

Judith Somogi was one of only a handful of professional female orchestra conductors. "Conducting," she once said, "is something you learn by doing." It was a skill many women never learned, because they were not allowed on the podium, although that began to change in the 1920s and 1930s. Somogi was born in 1937 and grew up on Long Island, where she performed as a church organist and then choir director. She attended the Juilliard School of Music in New York, studying violin, organ, and piano, and completing her M.M. degree in 1961. She then attended the Berkshire Music Center in Tangle-wood, Massachusetts.

Somogi supported herself as a piano teacher, then joined the New York City Opera in 1966 as a rehearsal pianist. For the next eight years, she performed a variety of tasks as pianist, coach, and chorus master, before she was finally given the opportunity to conduct. In between opera seasons, she worked as assistant conductor at the Spoleto Festival in Italy and at the American Symphony Orchestra in New York. In 1974, Somogi debuted as the first female conductor of the New York City Opera, conducting The Mikado and La Traviata. Throughout the 1970s, she appeared in San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, and San Antonio conducting orchestra and operatic productions. Her European debut was in Saarbrücken in 1979. Somogi traveled frequently while pursuing her career. "When you get new luggage that you insist on carrying on the plane," she said, "you know you're traveling more." Oklahoma loomed large in her professional career as she conducted both the Tulsa Philharmonic and the Oklahoma City Orchestra. Phillips Petroleum, whose corporate headquarters is in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, sponsored a television documentary, "On Stage with Judith Somogi," which was shown on PBS.

Eventually, however, she spent more and more time in Germany where she enjoyed the varied approaches to music making. In 1981, Somogi left for West Germany, where after conducting Madama Butterfly she was offered the position of First Kappelmeister (principal conductor) at the Frankfurt Opera (1982). In 1984, she was the first woman to conduct in a major Italian opera house when she directed Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice. Somogi never returned to perform in New York. She remained at the Frankfurt Opera until administrative changes and declining health from cancer caused her to retire in 1987 and return to Long Island, New York. Judith Somogi died at age 47, at the height of her illustrious career, after battling cancer for four years.