Iván Erőd

Biography

Iván Erőd (Hungarian: Erőd Iván [ˈɛrøːd ˈivaːn]; 2 January 1936 – 24 June 2019; sometimes spelled Eröd) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer and pianist. Educated in Budapest, he emigrated to Austria in 1956, where he studied at the Vienna Music Academy. He was successful as a pianist and composer of operas, chamber music and much more, with elements from serialism, Hungarian folk music and jazz. He first was a professor of music theory and composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (1967–1989), then a professor of composition at the Vienna Music Academy from 1989.

Career

Born in Budapest, Erőd studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music with Pál Kadosa (piano) and Ferenc Szabó (composition). He emigrated to Austria in 1956 and studied there at the Vienna Music Academy, with Richard Hauser (piano) and Karl Schiske (composition). He received diplomas in piano and composition in 1961. He took several summer classes at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse, studying with Eduard Steuermann and Luigi Nono. In 1960 he launched a career as a pianist, playing in Europe and the Near East.
From 1962 to 1968 he was a solo répétiteur at the Vienna State Opera and the Wiener Festwochen. From 1967 to 1989 he taught music theory and composition at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz, and later taught at the Vienna Music Academy, first as a guest teaching Tonsatz (harmony and counterpoint), and from 1989 as a professor. His students included Rudolf Hinterdorfer, Nono Schreiner, Georg Friedrich Haas, Gerhard Präsent, Johannes Kern, Dieter Zenz, Harry Schröder, Jörg-Martin Willnauer, Adolf Traar, Stefan Fuchs, Michele Trenti, Michael Amann, Lukas Haselböck, Johanna Doderer, Olga Neuwirth, Gerald Resch, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Johannes Maria Staud, Christian Utz, Kirill Petrenko, Nayden Todorov and Judit Varga.

Life

Erőd's brother and grandparents were murdered at Auschwitz in 1944. He fled Hungary after the events of 1956. He married in 1969 and had five children, among them Adrian, a baritone, and Leonard, a bassoonist at the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. He died of complications from a stroke in Vienna on 24 June 2019.