Arpad Joo

Arpad Joó (born, Budapest, Hungary, 1948; died 4 July 2014, Singapore) was a Hungarian conductor and concert pianist.

Maestro Joo (pronounced:Yo) was born in Hungary, Europe. Coming from an ancient line of Hungarian nobility—his father's side was raised to ranks by the Austro-Hungarian Emperor Rudolf, in recognition of scholarly achievements—and on his mother's side a direct line of descent to the Royal family of England, the House of Windsor. The Family was famous for the academic and artistic achievements through the centuries. His grandmother was an eminent pupil of Thoman, at the Franz Liszt Academy (a direct disciple of Franz Liszt). At a very early age, his mother, herself an accomplished pianist and teacher had discovered his musical talent. At the age of five he began his musical studies with his mother and a year later he entered the then newly established Kodály School of Music, under the personal supervision of the Hungarian composer-educator Zoltán Kodály.

Very shortly he attracted the attention of Kodály himself, who developed a lifelong teacher-student relationship with Mr. Joo, which lasted until the death of the composer. During his studies in the Kodály school he was introduced by his teachers to visiting musicians such as Igor Stravinsky, Aram Khachaturian, Pablo Casals, Carl Orff, Yehudi Menuhin, and Dmitri Shostakovich.

He studied at the Bartók Conservatory and, at the age of 16, he was admitted to the University level of the Franz Liszt Academy of Music where he studied piano with Joseph Gat and P. Kadosa. By this time he had won his first international Piano competition in Taormina in Italy, playing the Liszt Piano Concerto No. 1.

As a child prodigy he periodically visited Salzburg, Austria to study at the Mozarteum. At the age of 17 he was invited to give a solo recital in the Montreux festival (Switzerland) in the same series as Martha Argerich, Geza Anda, Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli. Joo’s piano performances took him to Switzerland, Germany, Czechoslovakia and Germany.

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