After 38 Years the Metropolitan Youth Symphony Bids Adieu to Founder Lajos Balogh

Portland, June 10th. An appreciative crowd cheered for the founder of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony as he passed the baton. (Photo Credit, John Rudoff, M.D.) Lajos Balogh is the founding music director of the Metropolitan Youth Symphony and has been the principal conductor since the organization’s inception in 1974. 

Lajos Balogh’s farewell concert feature a world premiere by one of the orchestra’s alumni, Steffen Schmidt. He’s a student at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, and composed an orchestral piece in honor of Balogh and John Richards: “Theme for Extraordinary Gentlemen.

Lajos Balogh plans to keep working with students and will also be conducting the 32nd year of the Portland Festival Orchestra in a series of seven free outdoor concerts, one of which will be in a new band shell that Balogh donated to Marylhurst University.

Mr. Balogh is also the conductor of the Marylhurst Symphony Orchestra. Lajos Balogh spent many years as Principal Second Violin with the Oregon Symphony, and has served on the faculties of Marylhurst College, Portland State University and Lewis and Clark College.

Mr. Balogh holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he studied with Dezsö Rados, Pal Jardanyi, Anton Molnar and Zoltan Kodaly, and a Master of Music degree from the University of Oregon. He has appeared as soloist with the Munich, Nuremberg and Göttingen symphonies and has recorded for radio stations worldwide.

From the Metropolitan Youth Symphony:

MYS is dedicated to offering a challenging, rewarding and fun musical experience for all young musicians. Our ensembles are designed to accommodate players of all levels of experience and ability. We offer students a chance to explore different musical styles with chamber and specialty ensembles. Musicians are placed in ensembles by playing ability, not by age, so that all students can progress at their own pace. The Symphony’s new Music Director is Andres Lopera.