(Credit: Cantakukuruz)

Famed Hungarian maestro Zoltán Peskó passed away on March 31, 2020 at the age of 83 in Budapest.

Born on Feb. 15, 1937 in Budapest, Peskó studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music before moving to Rome to work with Franco Ferraro; he also developed under the tutelage of Pierre Boulez in Switzerland.

Between 1966-73 he was a fixture at the Detusche Oper Berlin and served as chief conductor of the Teatro Comunale di Bologna; he was also the musical director at La Fenice until 1977.

He made his Teatro alla Scala debut in 1970 where he promoted more contemporary works of such composers as Clementi, Corghi, and Donati. He conducted the Italian premiere of Schönberg’s “Kol Nidre.”

Peskó was also General music director of the Deutsche Oper am Rheim in the late 1990s and in the early 2000s, he was chief conductor of the Orquestra Sinfónica Poruguesa, a relationship that ended on challenging terms over contractual obligations; the lawsuit went up to the Supreme Court of Justice, where an earlier decision in his favor was overturned.

He retired from conducting in 2012, after suffering a stroke.

He left behind an ample recorded legacy. Here is a look at his “Siegfried Idyll.”