György Cziffra Jr. (; 1943 – 17 November 1981) was a Hungarian

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

. His father was the pianist

György Cziffra Christian Georges Cziffra (; born Cziffra Krisztián György; 5 November 192115 January 1994) was a Hungarian-French virtuoso pianist and composer. He is considered to be one of the greatest virtuoso pianists of the twentieth century. Among ...

who had served in the Hungarian forces during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, and was arrested for political reasons by

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

authorities after

. In 1956 the family fled Hungary, settling in France. He trained as a pianist, but decided to turn to conducting. He and his father worked together on several recordings and live performances. Cziffra died in a fire at his house in the Paris suburbs. His father was heartbroken, and from that day on he never performed or recorded with an orchestra again.

References

* Hungarian male conductors (music) Hungarian male musicians Hungarian classical pianists French male conductors (music) Hungarian male classical pianists 1981 deaths 1943 births Deaths from fire Accidental deaths in France 20th-century French conductors (music) 20th-century French male musicians {{hungary-conductor-stub