Clarinetist Laszlo Horvat, who died May 26 at the 77th year of his life, the family told MTI on Tuesday.
Laszlo Horvat first learned to play the violin, and then began studying the clarinet under his father’s supervision. After going to music school in Szombathely and then to Győr High School of Music, he entered the György Balassa lesson at the Liszt Ferenc College of Music, receiving his honorary degree in 1969. In 1969-70 he was a fellow student at the Conservatory in Paris with Professor Ulysse Delcluse.
Laszlo Horvat joined the Hungarian State Philharmonic in 1965, of which he became the first clarinetist in 1968, according to a biography published by the Budapest Music Center.
In 1970, in addition to first place in the Budapest International Clarinet Competition, he also won the Special Prize of the Jury. He won a bronze medal in Geneva in 1972, and was named among the top five finalists in Munich in 1973.
László Horváth has been a regular player in Hungarian music since 1970 as a soloist and chamber musician. He is a founding member of the Philharmonic Wind Five. He was a soloist in almost every country in Europe, as well as in Australia and Japan.
He made numerous radio recordings for Hungarian Radio, BBC, in Vienna, Paris and Tokyo. Since 1983, they have often performed with the duo formed with Clara Cormendy.
Laszlo Horvat has been teaching since 1974, for five years at the College of Music in Debrecen, and then at the Béla Bartok Vocational School of Music in Budapest. He taught several summer courses, including in Nirpator, Fertud and Pradesh.
In 1992 he founded the László Lajtha Memorial Camp in Kőszeg, which focuses on the works of forgotten contemporary composers.
The artist won the János Ferencsik Memorial Prize and Ferenc Liszt Prize in 1993, the László Lajtha Prize in 1999, and the Sándor Veress Prize in 2001.
The ashes of László Horváth will be interred on June 17 at 2:30 pm at Kőszeg General Cemetery.
