András Wilheim, an outstanding Bartók scholar and an internationally recognized expert on American avant-garde music, especially John Cage, has passed away. As a member of the New Music Studio, he was a permanent consultant to his composer colleagues for decades. He taught at the Academy of Music for four decades, and in the eyes of hundreds of composers, musicologists, and instrumental musicians, he was the most erudite mediator of the music of the past half-century.

For fifty years he had a close relationship with György Kurtág, who always trusted in his musical judgments and authorized him to be the editor of his scores. Wilheim’s collaboration with UMP Editio Musica Budapest dates back to the 1980s: not only did he leave his mark on countless publications, but we could count on his well-founded and accurate answers to any question about the distant and recent past of music history.

We mourn a close colleague and friend.

Photo: Renáta Darázs