Sheet music by Bálint András Varga

Born in Budapest in 1941, I hoped to become a pianist. I was probably quite talented but lost my nerves as soon as I was on stage, so I gave up, studying instead English and Russian at Budapest University, graduating in 1965. Between 1965 and 1971, I broadcast in English on short wave, between 1971 and 1990 I was Head of Promotion with Editio Musica Budapest, the Hungarian Music Publisher and after a brief Berlin interlude, I joined Universal Edition, Vienna, to promote their catalogue (1992-2007). In retirement (2008-) I published a book of interviews with György Kurtág and "Three Questions for Sixty-Five Composers" (May 2011)both published by the University of Rochester Press. During the years I was active with publishers, I brought out books of interviews with Witold Lutoslawski, Iannis Xenakis and Luciano Berio, in addition to several more only available in Hungarian.