The composer Peter Eötvös, a tireless advocate for contemporary music over a career spanning six decades, has died in Budapest after a long illness. He was 80.

Born in Transylvania (then part of Hungary, now Romania), Eötvös studied composition in in Hungary and in West Germany. He composed scores for some notable Hungarian films in the early 1960s before coming to international attention as a member of the Stockhausen Ensemble between 1968 and 1976.

He later served as musical director and conductor of the Ensemble intercontemporain (EIC) and from 1985 to 1988, was principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Between 1997 and 2023, he published 14 operas.

Peter Eötvös, 1944–2024. Photo © Bálint Hrotkó

Raised in a musical family (his mother was a well-known pianist and teacher), the young Eötvös took to the piano and, aged 11 came to the attention of György Ligeti after winning a competition. Aged 14, he undertook study under Zoltán Kodály at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music.

By the late 1950s, Eötvös was working as a film accompanist, often improvising scores on piano and organ before graduating to writing scores for directors...