Born in Romania in 1926, György Kurtág began studying piano in 1940 with Magda Kardos and composition with Max Eisikovits. He moved to Budapest in 1946, where he studied composition with Sandor Veress and Ferenc Farkas, piano with Pál Kadosa, and chamber music with Leo Weiner.

Unlike his friend Ligeti, Kurtág remained in Hungary, where nearly all of his work was premiered until the 1980s. He did spend some time in Paris from 1957 to 1958, where he studied with Marianne Stein and took classes with Olivier Messiaen and Darius Milhaud. The influence of the latter, along with that of the Concerts du Domaine Musical, directed by Pierre Boulez, fostered a strong connection with the techniques of the Vienna School: especially Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, as well as with Karlheinz Stockhausen’s Gruppen. Kurtág’s time in Paris had a deep and lasting effect on his approach to composition. The first composition he completed upon returning to Budapest, his Quatuor à cordes, is known as his Opus n°1.

Kurtág taught piano and then chamber music at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest from 1967 until his retirement in 1986, and continued teaching for many years after. Játékok (“Games,” 1973-1976), a cycle of piano pieces written for children and inspired by their play, bears witness to Kurtág’s strong commitment to teaching and his innovative pedagogical approach.

Most of Kurtág’s works are limited to short forms, as is evident in the title of his quartet cycle Microludes (1977-1978). In particular, he composes short vocal pieces; voice, for him, is an instrument with new possibilities that reach far beyond its traditional narrative and operatic use. These short pieces are often gathered into cycles, such as Messages de feu Demoiselle Troussova for soprano and ensemble (1976-1980), or Les Propos de Peter Bornemisza, opus 7 (1963-1968). Semantics are a key preoccupation of Kurtág’s. In music composed for poems by Pilinszky, Dalos, Kafka, or Beckett, he highlights as strongly as possible the declamatory dimension of these literary works, underlining their qualities as whole, intelligible units.

Kurtág has great affection for chamber music, as well, having taught it for the greater part of his career. The cymbalom, a traditional Hungarian instrument, appears frequently, in pieces such as Duos (1960-1961) and Szálkák (1973).

With the exception of a few works, such as Stele (1994) for large orchestra, commissioned by Claudio Abbado, and …Concertante … op. 42 for violin, viola, and orchestra (2003), Kurtág rarely wrote major orchestral pieces, preferring smaller groupings and briefer forms, seeking out the essential and working for dramatic concision within a certain asceticism.

An honorary member of several academies in Europe and the United States, Kurtàg was invited for residencies in numerous European cities and received many awards and honors, including the Ernst von Siemens Prize in 1998 and the Grawemeyer Award for …concertante…, Op. 42, in 2006.