Tibor Paul

Who was Tibor Paul?

Tibor Paul was a Hungarian-Australian conductor.

He was born in Budapest. He studied piano and woodwind under Zoltán Kodály, Hermann Scherchen and Felix Weingartner. In 1930 he founded the Budapest Concert Orchestra. In 1939 he began conducting his own orchestra. He also conducted at the Budapest National Theatre and by 1945 he was principal conductor for the Hungarian Broadcasting Corporation.

In 1948, Paul left for Switzerland. He conducted for the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation and at the opera house in Berne. He migrated to Australia in 1950. He soon became a conductor with the New South Wales National Opera and a guest conductor with the Australian Broadcasting Commission. He taught orchestral and choral conducting at the New South Wales State Conservatorium of Music from 1954. He was also principal conductor for the Elizabethan Theatre Trust Opera Company in 1954-55. He became an Australian citizen in 1955.

Tibor Paul travelled widely throughout Australia and conducted in every capital city. He was the conductor of the Tasmanian concert attended by the very young Stuart Challender which caused Challender to set his sights on becoming a conductor himself. However, because the ABC was unable to offer Paul sufficient engagements, he made regular trips to Britain, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Denmark, France, Portugal and Austria. He was a vigorous promoter of Australian composers, and he toured Europe and North America in 1958 and included the work of Australians in his concerts.