Judith Somogi (May 13, 1937 – March 23, 1988) was an American conductor, the first woman conductor in the

New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through its 2013 bankruptcy, and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, dubbed "the peopl ...

Biography

Born to Louis and Antonina Somogi in 1937 in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, Somogi studied piano, violin, and organ at the

Juilliard School of Music The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named afte ...

graduating in 1961. She also took courses in Tanglewood, Massachusetts at

Berkshire Music Center The Tanglewood Music Center is an annual summer music academy in Lenox, Massachusetts, United States, in which emerging professional musicians participate in performances, master classes and workshops. The center operates as a part of the Tanglew ...

. Initially Somogi worked as a piano teacher before joining the

. From 1966 she was rehearsal pianist, chorus master and coach before she got the chance to take on conducting there. Between seasons Somogi worked as an assistant conductor to

Thomas Schippers Thomas Schippers (9 March 1930 – 16 December 1977) was an American conductor. He was highly regarded for his work in opera. Biography Of Dutch ancestry and son of the owner of a large appliance store, Schippers was born in Portage, Michig ...

in Italy at the

Spoleto Festival The ''Festival dei Due Mondi'' (Festival of the Two Worlds) is an annual summer music and opera festival held each June to early July in Spoleto, Italy, since its founding by composer Gian Carlo Menotti in 1958. It features a vast array of conc ...

and to and

Leopold Stokowski Leopold Anthony Stokowski (18 April 1882 – 13 September 1977) was a British-born American conductor. One of the leading conductors of the early and mid-20th century, he is best known for his long association with the Philadelphia Orchestra. H ...

in New York at the

American Symphony Orchestra The American Symphony Orchestra is a New York–based American orchestra founded in 1962 by Leopold Stokowski whose mission is to demystify orchestral music and make it accessible and affordable for all audiences. Leon Botstein is the orchestra ...

. From 1977 to 1980, Somogi served as music director of the Utica Symphony Orchestra, making her the first woman to hold a permanent orchestral post in the United States. Somogi conducted in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

, San Diego, Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, San Antonio and

Saarbrücken Saarbrücken (; Rhenish Franconian: ''Sabrigge'' ; ; ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of cities and towns in Germany, city of the state of Saarland, Germany. Saarbrücken has 181,959 inhabitants and is Saarland's administrative, commerci ...

. Somogi also conducted the Oklahoma City Orchestra and the

Tulsa Philharmonic The Tulsa Philharmonic was an American symphony orchestra located in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The orchestra was founded in 1948 by H. Arthur Brown who was principal conductor from 1948 till 1958. The original Tulsa Philharmonic grew out of a small group ...

. A documentary, ''On Stage with Judith Somogi'', was made about her for

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

. In 1974 Somogi became the first woman conductor in the New York City Opera. In 1975, she conducted the

Naumburg Orchestral Concerts Naumburg () is a town in (and the administrative capital of) the district Burgenlandkreis, in the state of Saxony-Anhalt, Central Germany. It has a population of around 33,000. The Naumburg Cathedral became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2018. ...

, in the Naumburg Bandshell, Central Park, in the summer series. She was first conductor at the

Oper Frankfurt The Oper Frankfurt (Frankfurt Opera) is a German opera company based in Frankfurt. Opera in Frankfurt am Main has a long tradition, with many world premieres such as Franz Schreker's ''Der ferne Klang'' in 1912, ''Fennimore and Gerda, Fennimore ...

from 1982 to 1987. In 1984 she became the first woman to conduct in one of Italy's major opera houses. Poor health caused her to retire in 1987 and she died in Long Island, in 1988 after a four year battle with cancer.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Somogi, Judith 1937 births 1988 deaths Musicians from Brooklyn 20th-century American conductors (music) American women conductors (music) Juilliard School alumni