András Ligeti
was musical director of the Telekom Symphony Orchestra (earlier the Matáv Symphony Orchestra) between 1997 and 2007. He has also taught at the Liszt Music Academy, his alma mater, for 33 years, first in the strings department, and later in the conducting department, at the request of the academy's rector.
Ligeti's position at LFZE will be part-time as he will not give up his work with the Telekom Symphony Orchestra. He will have more time for teaching, and he has also started practicing the violin again, though he says he has no plans to perform publicly.
"I have 80 students in the conducting department, and not one is a string player. By their own admission, they don't even know the first thing about strings, which is really awkward considering that 70 percent of the symphony orchestra is strings," Ligeti says.
To remedy this problem, Ligeti is introducing a strings course to be held once a week for the would-be conductors. At the first session of the course, the slow movement of Beethoven's Eroica was the homework: "It's amazing what progress was made in this area," Ligeti says.
Ligeti concedes he is not a born teacher, rather he is a conductor and wants it to remain as such. "I'm going to lead a double life, there will be teaching blocks and periods for travel. The [student] symphony and the faculty will never be without a head, as Tamás Gál will continue to participate with the work," he adds.
LFZE rector András Batta said he had agreed with Ligeti that music education was in need of fundamental reforms.
Source: Hungarian News Agency (MTI) / Photo: port.hu
