Andras Adorjan

András Adorján, born in Budapest in 1944, first explored music through piano and the Hungarian shepherd’s flute before beginning formal flute instruction at age twelve with Vilmos Bántai. The Hungarian Revolution soon forced his family to flee to Denmark, where he continued studies with Johan Bentzon and Erik Thomsen. While completing a dentistry degree in Copenhagen, he spent successive summers at the International Summer Academy in Nice under Jean-Pierre Rampal. In 1968, after graduating, he relocated to Freiburg to study with Aurèle Nicolet on Rampal’s recommendation and that same year received both the Jacob Gade Prize in Copenhagen and laureate honors at the Concours Internationale de Flûte in Montreux.

Securing the first grand prize at the Concours International de Flûte in Paris in 1971 opened an international touring career that placed him with leading chamber ensembles and orchestras. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s he served as principal flutist with the Royal Stockholm Opera, the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra of Baden-Baden, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Gürzenich Orchestra of Cologne, and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra once more. Around 1981 he retrieved the manuscript of Franz Doppler’s Concerto for two flutes from the attic of the house belonging to Karl Doppler’s grandson.

Adorján has also elicited new compositions from contemporary figures including Ferenc Farkas and Alfred Schnittke. He joined the faculty of the Musikhochschule in Cologne in 1987 and later taught at the Musikhochschule in Munich from 1996 to 2012. He appears and records regularly with his wife, flutist Marianne Henkel, and with their sons David, cellist, and Gabriel, violinist. He remains sought after as lecturer, performer, and recording artist.