Géza Frid

Biography

Géza Frid (25 January 1904 – 13 September 1989) was a Hungarian–Dutch composer and pianist.

Early years

Géza Frid was born in Máramarossziget in the Máramaros County of Austria-Hungary (present-day Romania) and studied piano and composition in Budapest with a.o. Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók. He settled in Amsterdam in 1929 and became a Dutch citizen in 1948. He died in Beverwijk and was buried at Zorgvlied cemetery.

Activities

Frid gave many piano recitals all over the world: Italy (1926, 1955, 1965), Indonesia (1948–1949, 1951, 1956), Siam and Egypt (1951), Israel (1962, 1965, 1967), the Soviet Union, (1963), South- and North-America (1965, 1967), Turkey (1965), The Netherlands (1967), Surinam and the Netherlands Antilles (1970), the United States (1970, 1974), Hungary (1971, 1974). During the Second World War Frid was active in the resistance. He taught chamber music at the Conservatory of Music in Utrecht.

Prizes

In 1949 he received the music prize of the City of Amsterdam for Paradou (fantaisie symphonique), in 1950 the second prize in the Wereldomroep-K.N.T.V.-competition for Varieties op een Nederlands Volkslied (Variations on a Dutch folksong), for choir and orchestra, and in 1951 the third prize at the Concours International pour Quatuor à Cordes for Strijkkwartet III. In 1954 he was awarded the music prize of the City of Amsterdam for Etudes Symphoniques, in 1956 the second prize from the Dutch Government for the Sonate op. 50, for violin and piano, and the fourth prize at the Concours International pour Quatuor à Cordes in Luik for Strijkkwartet IV. In 1990 Frid was posthumously awarded the Bartók prize from the Ferenc Liszt Hochschule in Budapest.

Compact discs

Releases on CD include Sinfonietta op. 66 (Q Disc Q 97006) and several chamber music compositions (Q Disc Q 87023). On the occasion of his 100th birthday the CD Géza Frid - Choral Works was released (Hungaroton Classic, HCD 32362).