Andor Kovach

Andor Kovach (1915–2005) was a composer, conductor and teacher born in Transylvania who later became a Swiss citizen. At the Liszt Academy in Budapest he studied with Lajos Bárdos and Zoltán Kodály, becoming Kodály’s assistant, and took private composition lessons with Béla Bartók in 1939–40. He completed his studies in composition, conducting and music education in 1941.

His career took him to Saarbrücken, São Paulo and Brussels before he settled in Lausanne in 1962. He taught composition, orchestration and theory at the Lausanne Conservatoire until 1977, and subsequently taught in Boston. His catalogue includes opera, symphonies, concertos, chamber music, songs, cantatas and incidental music. Paul Sacher commissioned orchestral works from him. His musical manuscripts and archives are held by the Bibliothèque cantonale et universitaire in Lausanne. The early Trio No. 1, Musique d’automne, for flute, clarinet and guitar, is featured on Enantiosemie.