Ligeti was born to Jewish Hungarian parents in Transylvania in 1923. His father and brother were murdered by the Nazis, and he left Hungary in 1956 to settle in Vienna, where he received Austrian citizenship.
During his long career, Ligeti received numerous international prizes and he was made honorary member of several famous orchestras. But it was not until his 80th birthday that he was awarded the Kossuth Prize, Hungary?s highest honour for artists.
Ligeti is probably best known for his opera Le Grand Macabre as well as the pieces featured in Stanley Kubrick?s 1968 science fiction classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. Ligeti did not associate himself with any musical school, but knew all of them well. He preferred instead to maintain his creative autonomy, as well as a high degree of professionalism. Personally acquainted with most of the world?s great composers of the second half of the 20th century, Ligeti was not just an artist and a teacher, but a mentor for an entire generation, Minister of Education and Culture István Hiller said on Monday.
Iván Fischer, the conductor of the Budapest Festival Orchestra, said Ligeti had done ?perhaps the most of anyone for the renewal of music in the second half of the 20th century.? ?With György Ligeti, we have lost the most important member of the generation of composers who followed Béla Bartók,? he said.
