Ervin Acél

Ervin Acél (right) after one of his last concerts in Oradea

Ervin Acél (born June 3, 1935 in Timișoara , Romania ; † August 24, 2006 in Vienna , Austria ) was a Hungarian conductor .

biography

education

Ervin Acél studied at the musical lyceum in his hometown Timișoara and continued his studies in Bucharest at the conservatory from 1953 to 1957. His teachers were Victor Iusceanu (theory and solfeggio), Paul Constantinescu (harmony), Silvia Capatana (piano), Adriana Sachelarie and George Breazul (music history), Constantin Silvestri (orchestra conducting) and Ion Vicol (choral conducting), he studied from 1958 to 1960 in Cluj with Antonin Ciolan and Anton Rónai orchestral direction.

Debut and conductor in Oradea

Acél made his debut on October 4, 1960 in Botoșani , where he was engaged as a permanent conductor for a short time (1960–1963) and was also active there as a piano professor.

In 1965 he took over the management of the Oradea Philharmonic , where he was to remain until 1992. Under his leadership, this ensemble developed into one of the leading orchestras in Romania. Acél took part in numerous master classes, including in Hilversum with Jean Fournet . He specialized in the Viennese Classic and Baroque periods and dedicated himself particularly to the two great composers from Oradea: Michael Haydn and Carl Ditters von Dittersdorf . He recorded many works by Michael Haydn on record that were previously completely unknown.

Since 1989 the summer master’s courses in orchestral conducting , which he founded, have taken place in Băile Felix near Großwardein - a unique thing in Romania up to that point in time. His students include Andrea Riderelli (Italy), Paul Murphy (England), Guillaume Boulay and Frederik Rabemanjara (France), Dan Ratiu, Cristian Neagu (Romania) and others. v. a.

During his time in Oradea, Acél was artistic director of the Istanbul State Opera for a short period between 1981 and 1983 .

Years in Szeged and Vienna

From 1980 to 1989, in addition to his artistic activities, he was director of the Greater Oradin Philharmonic Orchestra. On November 23, 1985 he conducted a concert in the Brahms Hall of the Wiener Musikverein as part of a cultural exchange program .

From 1991 to 1999 Acél was artistic director and director of the Szeged Philharmonic . In this function he directed numerous concerts, made tours, a. a. a big tour of Portugal in 1997, in which Agnes Baltsa also participated, and many recordings.

Since 1996 Acél has taught at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna , where he was to stay until his death. However, it in no way meant that he gave up his activities as a famous conductor in Hungary and Romania. Since 1999 he has returned to Oradea, where he regularly gave concerts and was therefore constantly traveling between Vienna, Szeged and Oradea.

In addition to his famous master classes in Romania, which are very popular among students, Acél also gave his experience and knowledge to students in Vienna as part of the Vienna Music Seminar and u. a. in Italy. His extensive language skills made it easier for him to work with students from many cultures.

From 1996 until his death in 2006, Elena Casella from Milan was his only assistant.

After a long illness, Acél died in Vienna at the end of August 2006. He was buried in his hometown of Köszegszerdahely , near Kőszeg, in the presence of many musicians, students and friends.

He left no less than 40 recordings , of which only 8 have so far appeared on CD .

Web links

• The chief conductors of the Szeged Philharmony Orchestra (Hungarian)