György Sebők
György Sebők (November 2, 1922 – November 14, 1999) was a Hungarian-born American pianist and professor at the Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. He was known worldwide as a soloist with major orchestras, a recitalist on four continents, a recording artist, and for his master classes, visiting professorships, and the Swiss music festival he organized in Ernen.
György Sebők
Dushi68 · Public domain
- Name
- György Sebők
- Born
- 2 November 1922
- Birthplace
- Szeged, Hungary
- Died
- 14 November 1999
- Place of death
- Bloomington, Indiana, US
- Nationality
- Hungary
- Occupation
- music educator · pianist · editor · musician
- Fields
- piano performance · music education
- Education
- Franz Liszt Academy of Music
- Teachers
- Zoltán Kodály · Leó Weiner · György Sándor
- Honours
- Franz Liszt Prize · Commander Cross of the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic · Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres
- Languages
- Hungarian
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
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Documentary summary
György Sebők (November 2, 1922 – November 14, 1999) was a Hungarian-born American pianist and professor at the Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana, United States. He was known worldwide as a soloist with major orchestras, a recitalist on four continents, a recording artist, and for his master classes, visiting professorships, and the Swiss music festival he organized in Ernen.
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Note VALÉORINE
György Sebők (1922–1999) was an editor, music educator and musician, among other activities, of Hungarian nationality. The editor was born in Szeged and died in Bloomington.
György Sebők was educated at Franz Liszt Academy of Music. The editor worked for Indiana University Bloomington and lived in United States. Activity centred on music education and piano performance.
Languages used include Hungarian. Honours include Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres and Franz Liszt Prize.
Composed from admitted, traceable facts · 29 September 2026
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In this article
Biography
Biography
György Sebők studied at Franz Liszt Academy of Music. Training under Zoltán Kodály, Leó Weiner and György Sándor is recorded. Jacinthe Couture, Joël Pasquier and Damjana Bratuž are recorded as having studied under György Sebők. the recorded working language is Hungarian. The field of work recorded is piano performance and music education. Residence is recorded at United States. Employment is recorded with Indiana University Bloomington. Distinctions recorded are Franz Liszt Prize, Commander Cross of the Order of Merit of the Hungarian Republic and Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — György Sebők • Born — 2 November 1922 • Birthplace — Szeged, Hungary • Died — 14 November 1999 • Place of death — Bloomington, Indiana, US
Biography
Biography
Sebők was born in Szeged, Hungary, on 2 November 1922. He gave his first solo piano recital at age 11. At 14, he played Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 1 under conductor Ferenc Fricsay — a performance upon which he would reflect many years later. He enrolled in the Franz Liszt Academy at the age of 16, under the guidance of Zoltán Kodály and Leo Weiner. After graduating, he was conscripted into the German army; as a Jew he was made to work breaking rocks in the Carpathian Mountains for construction of roads. After the war he gave concerts for ten years throughout Eastern and Central Europe and the former Soviet Union. He won the Grand Prix du Disque in 1957. Sebők was listed in Who's Who in America, Who's Who in Music, the National Register of Prominent Americans, and other biographical dictionaries. He received numerous honors, including the Cross of Merit of the Hungarian Government, La Medaille de la Ville de Paris, Echelon Vermeille, and, in 1996, Kulturpreis des Staates Wallis, (Prix de Consecration). Also in 1996, the French Government bestowed on him the decoration Chevalier de L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres.
Places
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Places
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- United States
Named but not plotted · 2
Szeged.
Birth place
Bloomington.
Death place
Teaching
In 1949, he was named professor of music at the Béla Bartók Conservatory in Budapest. After the Hungarian revolt of 1956, he settled in Paris and began recording for Erato. Encouraged by his cellist friend János Starker, at the age of forty, he went to Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, starting what is considered to be the most productive phase of his career. Jeremy Denk dedicated his memoir "Every Good Boy Does Fine: A Love Story in Music Lessons" to Sebők, and wrote about the profound impact that Sebők had upon his musical upbringing and career. Starker called him "the greatest pianist who ever lived" and one of the greatest teachers. Sebők was a guest professor of the Berlin Hochschule der Künste (HdK) in Germany, there teaching master classes twice a year. He was also an honorary life member of Tokyo's Toho School of Music, and a regular guest teacher at the Banff Centre for Arts; the Amsterdam Sweelinck Conservatorium, the School of Music in Barcelona, and the Hochschule für Musik in Stuttgart. In 1973 he founded and organized annual summer master classes in Ernen, Switzerland for pianists and 'other instruments', and the following year he was a member the jury for the first Paloma O'Shea Santander International Piano Competition. He also founded and directed the "Festival der Zukunft" in Ernen in 1987, which is to this day carrying his legacy with growing numbers of concertgoers. The city's officials made him an honorary citizen—only their third in 800 years.
Primary sources
Primary sources
• In memoriam: György Sebők • György Sebők - Artisttrove • György Sebők - Allmusic • Tracing Liabraaten's Musical Roots to Liszt & Beethoven
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.György Sebők - Obituary. Gramophone, February 2000, p. 23.
- 2.Jean-Pierre Thiollet, 88 notes pour piano solo, "Solo nec plus ultra", Neva Editions, 2015, p.51. .
- 3."Winners, Juries, Orchestras and Guest Artists – II International Competition 1975", Santander Piano Competition
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
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