Menu Search

András Adorján

2018 Lifetime Achievement Award

 

András Adorján, a true international star of the flute, was born in 1944 in Budapest, grew up in Copenhagen, and since 1974 has lived in Munich. He first studied dentistry, obtaining his dentist’s diploma in Copenhagen in 1968. He studied flute in Budapest with Vilmos Bántai, in Copenhagen with Johan Bentzon of the Danish Radio Orchestra, and later with Erik Thomsen of the Danish Opera and completed his musical studies under the auspices of Jean-Pierre Rampal (International Summer Academy in Nice) and Aurèle Nicolet at the Musikhochshule in Freiburg, Germany.

After winning two international prizes in 1968—the Jacob Gade Prize in Copenhagen and the Concours International de Flûte in Montreux—Adorján was unanimously awarded the Premier Grand Prix of the Concours International de Flûte de Paris in 1971. This was the beginning of an international career that has led him to appear worldwide as soloist with the best chamber and symphony orchestras. 

András Adorján

 

Between 1970 and 1988, Adorján’s activities included the position of principal flutist of important symphony orchestras: the Royal Stockholm Opera, the Gürzenich Orchestra of Cologne, the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra of Baden-Baden, and from 1974 to 1987 the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Munich. In 1987 he was appointed professor at the Musikhochschule in Cologne, and from 1996 to 2012, he taught at the Musikhochschule in Munich. Many of his pupils have gone on to successful careers as flutists, teachers, and conductors. 

Adorján is a welcome guest at important music festivals and a sought-after member of juries for international flute competitions. He is active in widening the flute literature by playing many works from a variety of stylistic periods. He performs pieces he has (re)discovered by composers including Benda, Bloch, Danzi, Devienne, Doppler, Doráti, Gieseking, Hummel, Lebrun, Mendelssohn, Mercadante, Moscheles, Reger, Reinecke, Roman, Silcher, Spohr, Zielche, and Zinck. He also plays compositions by contemporary composers that were inspired by and written for him, among them Dieter Acker, Georges Barboteu, Gunnar Berg, Edison Denisov, Paul Engel, Jindrich Feld, Ferenc Farkas, Lars Graugård, Wilfried Hiller, Vagn Holmboe, Jan Koetsier, Noël Lee, Miklós Maros, Krzysztof Meyer, Alfred Schnittke, Sven Erik Werner, and Jörg Widmann. An active music editor, he has edited many works for Bärenreiter, Billaudot, Breitkopf, Henle, Musica Rara, Schott, Sikorski, and Edition Svitzer.

Adorján is the co-editor of the 900-page encyclopedia, Lexikon der Flöte (Lexicon of the Flute), published in 2009. He has released more than 100 records and CDs and received the 1988 Prize of the Deutsche Schallplattenkritik (German Recording Critics). His recordings include the complete flute concertos of Benda, Danzi, Devienne and C.P.E. Bach as well as Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto (Popp transcription) and duo recordings with Jean-Pierre Rampal. His latest recordings, released by the French label Premiers Horizons, include Capriccio Danois (first recordings of Danish music for flute and piano from the beginning of the 20th century) and six concertos of Ludwig August Lebrun coupled with Haydn’s Cello Concerto in D (all Ebers transcriptions) with the Orchestre de Chambre de Paris conducted by Philippe Bernold. He also has performed and recorded with his musical family, including his wife Marianne Henkel (flute), and sons Dávid (cello) and Gabriel (violin).