László Vidovszky

László Vidovszky (born Békéscsaba, Hungary, 25 February 1944) is a Hungarian composer and pianist. During the 1970s he began composing works in a minimal style. His music has been influential on the music of György Kurtág and other modern composers. Vidovszky studied composition with Géza Szatmári at the Szeged Conservatory in 1959, and with Ferenc Farkas at the Budapest Academy of Music from 1962 to 1967. In 1970–71, he studied in Paris, attending courses organized by the Groupe des Recherches Musicales as well as composition classes of Olivier Messiaen. In 1970, Vidovszky co-founded (together with Zoltán Jeney, László Sáry, Péter Eötvös, and Albert Simon) the Budapest New Music Studio and has been an active member ever since, both as composer and as performer. Vidovszky taught music theory at the Teachers’ Training College of the Budapest Academy of Music from 1972 to 1984. In 1984 he was appointed director of the music department at the University of Pécs in southern Hungary, a position which he held until 1988. In 1996 he was appointed as the first Dean of the recently founded Faculty of Fine and Performing Arts at the same university. Vidovszky was awarded the Erkel Prize (1983), the Bartók-Pásztory Prize (1992) and the Kossuth Prize (2010). He was named Merited Artist of the Hungarian Republic in 1996.