(MTI) - Emil Petrovics was born in Zrenjanin, Serbia, to a Serbian father and Hungarian mother and moved with his family to Budapest during World War Two. He was a pupil of Ferenc Farkas at the Budapest Academy of Music, where he began teaching in 1968. He directed the State Opera House from 1986 to 1990, and served as its musical director from 2003 to 2005.
His reputation was established by C'est la guerre, a one-act opera with a strong anti-war message, in 1961.
Later on he composed opera adaptations for Aristophanes' Lysistrate and Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment.
Petrovics also composed cantatas, two symphonies, three violin quartets, a piano concerto and much incidental music drawing on a wide range of influences.
He was awarded the Kossuth Prize, Hungary's state honour for artists, twice, in 1966 and 2006.
