Georg Solti

Sir Georg Solti was a Hungarian-British orchestral and operatic conductor, known for his appearances with opera companies in Munich, Frankfurt, and London, and as a long-serving music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Born in Budapest, he studied there with Béla Bartók, Leó Weiner, and Ernő Dohnányi. In the 1930s, he was a répétiteur at the Hungarian State Opera and worked at the Salzburg Festival for Arturo Toscanini. His career was interrupted by the rise of the Nazis' influence on Hungarian politics, and being of Jewish background, he fled the increasingly harsh Hungarian anti-Jewish laws in 1938. After conducting a season of Russian ballet in London at the Royal Opera House, he found refuge in Switzerland, where he remained during the Second World War. Prohibited from conducting there, he earned a living as a pianist.

21 October 1912

Born on the same birth date (21 October 1912): Alfredo Pián • Don Byas

Born on the same birth day (21 October): Bruce Beeby • Charlotte Sullivan • Claire Waldoff • Evhen Tsybulenko • Fritz Hollaus • James Steuart (economist) • Kerstin Andreae • Leonard Rossiter • Marvin Mitchell • Mary Blair • Orlando Thomas • Tan Kah Kee • Tonje Brenna

Born in the same month (October 1912): Alfredo Pián • Charles Wood, 2nd Earl of Halifax • Clifford Hansen • Cornel Wilde • Dale Evans • Don Byas • Jack Owens (singer-songwriter) • Kathleen Ollerenshaw • Luigi Raimondi • Nellie Lutcher • Perkins Bass • Richard Doll • Ruhi Su