Bálint András Varga
Born in Budapest in 1941, I hoped to become a pianist. Failing nerves on stage made me give it up as a profession. I studied languages instead and soon after joining the English Section of Hungarian Radio, I started doing interviews with musicians. They were broadcast and a selection was eventually published in a book in 1972. By that time, I had taken over the promotion of contemporary Hungarian music (1971-1990). A great deal of travelling ensued, always in the company of my tape recorder; my interviews have been appearing ever since, most recently in October 2013 which includes some of my earliest conversations with musicians (Arthur Rubinstein, 1966). The title: From Boulanger to Stockhausen. Interviews and a Memoir (University of Rochester Press). I have also published book-length interviews with composers (Lutoslawski, 1974,1976, in Hungarian, English and German), Xenakis (in various languages, between 1980 and 2015 - the Turkish translation is to appear next year), Berio (in Hungarian 1981 and English 1985) and Kurtág (in Hungarian, English, German and French 2009, 2010). Also, "Three Questions for 82 Composers" in Hungarian in 1986, in English (...for 65 Composers, 2011) and German (...for 73 Composers), 2014.
On leaving the Hungarian music publisher in 1990, I worked in Berlin as deputy director of the Hungarian Cultural Institute (1991/92); in 1992 I was invited by Universal Edition, Vienna, to take over the promotion of the catalogue. I retired in 2007).