"OBITUARIES: GEZA SZABO, LED SYMPHONY IN BELLFLOWER
Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA) - Wednesday, June 26, 1991
Author: From staff reports
LAKEWOOD - The dedicated conductor and musical director of the Bellflower Symphony Orchestra, Geza Szabo, has died at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance. He was 66.
Szabo, who died Thursday after an apparent heart attack, also was a founder of the orchestra. He was a resident of Lakewood since 1961 and was an electrical and mechanical engineer with Western Tube and Conduit Corp. in Long Beach.
"I consider myself a Beethoven specialist - and Wagner," he told a Press-Telegram interviewer in 1980. "I like romantic music."
Szabo started piano lessons when he was 5 years old. When he reached college age, he enrolled in the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest, and, simultaneously, at his father's insistence, at a technical university.
"My father was a logical and practical man," he said. "He said ... 'Pick a profession.' So I went 'eeny, meeny, miny, mo' and picked the technical university."
"I shuttled back and forth on the No. 17 streetcar," he recalled. "In the morning I would learn centimeters and square roots. In the afternoon, I would learn music."
He became proficient on the piano, cello, double bass, French horn, organ and percussion instruments.
After completing school, he plunged into the world of music. He was a timpani player with the Hungarian Radio Orchestra and soon became a conductor.
After the Hungarian uprising, he fled to what was then West Germany, where he later was joined by his wife and 2-year-old son. He then joined the Philharmonic Hungarica in West Germany.
He brought his family to the United States in 1959, and settled in Louisville, Ky. In 1961, the family came to Lakewood, where he first was an engineer with a trailer company.
The Bellflower Symphony was formed in the later half of the 1960s. Its first concert was in the Mayfair High School gymnasium, and from 1968 until 1982 its base was in the Simms Park gymnasium. It then moved into the William Bristol Civic Auditorium in Bellflower.
Szabo is survived by his wife of 40 years, Marie Szabo; son Geza Szabo Jr., son and daughter-in-law George and Sheri Szabo, and son Gary Szabo; and a brother, George Szabo.
The Bellflower Symphony will play the "Going Home" theme from Dvorak's New World Symphony at a memorial service at 2 p.m. Sunday in the William Bristol Civic Auditorium, 16600 Civic Center Drive, Bellflower.
Arrangements are under the direction of the Stricklin/Snively Mortuary in Long Beach."
------------------------
------------------------
I had the pleasure of being in the Bellflower Symphony Orchestra in the late 1970's and was very impressed by Geza's ability to lead and to get people to work together.
I was sad when I heard he had passed away. I still think about the group even though I haven't played an instrument since high school.
FranzJr
Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA) - Wednesday, June 26, 1991
Author: From staff reports
LAKEWOOD - The dedicated conductor and musical director of the Bellflower Symphony Orchestra, Geza Szabo, has died at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance. He was 66.
Szabo, who died Thursday after an apparent heart attack, also was a founder of the orchestra. He was a resident of Lakewood since 1961 and was an electrical and mechanical engineer with Western Tube and Conduit Corp. in Long Beach.
"I consider myself a Beethoven specialist - and Wagner," he told a Press-Telegram interviewer in 1980. "I like romantic music."
Szabo started piano lessons when he was 5 years old. When he reached college age, he enrolled in the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest, and, simultaneously, at his father's insistence, at a technical university.
"My father was a logical and practical man," he said. "He said ... 'Pick a profession.' So I went 'eeny, meeny, miny, mo' and picked the technical university."
"I shuttled back and forth on the No. 17 streetcar," he recalled. "In the morning I would learn centimeters and square roots. In the afternoon, I would learn music."
He became proficient on the piano, cello, double bass, French horn, organ and percussion instruments.
After completing school, he plunged into the world of music. He was a timpani player with the Hungarian Radio Orchestra and soon became a conductor.
After the Hungarian uprising, he fled to what was then West Germany, where he later was joined by his wife and 2-year-old son. He then joined the Philharmonic Hungarica in West Germany.
He brought his family to the United States in 1959, and settled in Louisville, Ky. In 1961, the family came to Lakewood, where he first was an engineer with a trailer company.
The Bellflower Symphony was formed in the later half of the 1960s. Its first concert was in the Mayfair High School gymnasium, and from 1968 until 1982 its base was in the Simms Park gymnasium. It then moved into the William Bristol Civic Auditorium in Bellflower.
Szabo is survived by his wife of 40 years, Marie Szabo; son Geza Szabo Jr., son and daughter-in-law George and Sheri Szabo, and son Gary Szabo; and a brother, George Szabo.
The Bellflower Symphony will play the "Going Home" theme from Dvorak's New World Symphony at a memorial service at 2 p.m. Sunday in the William Bristol Civic Auditorium, 16600 Civic Center Drive, Bellflower.
Arrangements are under the direction of the Stricklin/Snively Mortuary in Long Beach."
------------------------
------------------------
I had the pleasure of being in the Bellflower Symphony Orchestra in the late 1970's and was very impressed by Geza's ability to lead and to get people to work together.
I was sad when I heard he had passed away. I still think about the group even though I haven't played an instrument since high school.
FranzJr
"OBITUARIES: GEZA SZABO, LED SYMPHONY IN BELLFLOWER
Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA) - Wednesday, June 26, 1991
Author: From staff reports
LAKEWOOD - The dedicated conductor and musical director of the Bellflower Symphony Orchestra, Geza Szabo, has died at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance. He was 66.
Szabo, who died Thursday after an apparent heart attack, also was a founder of the orchestra. He was a resident of Lakewood since 1961 and was an electrical and mechanical engineer with Western Tube and Conduit Corp. in Long Beach.
"I consider myself a Beethoven specialist - and Wagner," he told a Press-Telegram interviewer in 1980. "I like romantic music."
Szabo started piano lessons when he was 5 years old. When he reached college age, he enrolled in the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest, and, simultaneously, at his father's insistence, at a technical university.
"My father was a logical and practical man," he said. "He said ... 'Pick a profession.' So I went 'eeny, meeny, miny, mo' and picked the technical university."
"I shuttled back and forth on the No. 17 streetcar," he recalled. "In the morning I would learn centimeters and square roots. In the afternoon, I would learn music."
He became proficient on the piano, cello, double bass, French horn, organ and percussion instruments.
After completing school, he plunged into the world of music. He was a timpani player with the Hungarian Radio Orchestra and soon became a conductor.
After the Hungarian uprising, he fled to what was then West Germany, where he later was joined by his wife and 2-year-old son. He then joined the Philharmonic Hungarica in West Germany.
He brought his family to the United States in 1959, and settled in Louisville, Ky. In 1961, the family came to Lakewood, where he first was an engineer with a trailer company.
The Bellflower Symphony was formed in the later half of the 1960s. Its first concert was in the Mayfair High School gymnasium, and from 1968 until 1982 its base was in the Simms Park gymnasium. It then moved into the William Bristol Civic Auditorium in Bellflower.
Szabo is survived by his wife of 40 years, Marie Szabo; son Geza Szabo Jr., son and daughter-in-law George and Sheri Szabo, and son Gary Szabo; and a brother, George Szabo.
The Bellflower Symphony will play the "Going Home" theme from Dvorak's New World Symphony at a memorial service at 2 p.m. Sunday in the William Bristol Civic Auditorium, 16600 Civic Center Drive, Bellflower.
Arrangements are under the direction of the Stricklin/Snively Mortuary in Long Beach."
------------------------
------------------------
I had the pleasure of being in the Bellflower Symphony Orchestra in the late 1970's and was very impressed by Geza's ability to lead and to get people to work together.
I was sad when I heard he had passed away. I still think about the group even though I haven't played an instrument since high school.
FranzJr
Press-Telegram (Long Beach, CA) - Wednesday, June 26, 1991
Author: From staff reports
LAKEWOOD - The dedicated conductor and musical director of the Bellflower Symphony Orchestra, Geza Szabo, has died at the Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance. He was 66.
Szabo, who died Thursday after an apparent heart attack, also was a founder of the orchestra. He was a resident of Lakewood since 1961 and was an electrical and mechanical engineer with Western Tube and Conduit Corp. in Long Beach.
"I consider myself a Beethoven specialist - and Wagner," he told a Press-Telegram interviewer in 1980. "I like romantic music."
Szabo started piano lessons when he was 5 years old. When he reached college age, he enrolled in the Franz Liszt Music Academy in Budapest, and, simultaneously, at his father's insistence, at a technical university.
"My father was a logical and practical man," he said. "He said ... 'Pick a profession.' So I went 'eeny, meeny, miny, mo' and picked the technical university."
"I shuttled back and forth on the No. 17 streetcar," he recalled. "In the morning I would learn centimeters and square roots. In the afternoon, I would learn music."
He became proficient on the piano, cello, double bass, French horn, organ and percussion instruments.
After completing school, he plunged into the world of music. He was a timpani player with the Hungarian Radio Orchestra and soon became a conductor.
After the Hungarian uprising, he fled to what was then West Germany, where he later was joined by his wife and 2-year-old son. He then joined the Philharmonic Hungarica in West Germany.
He brought his family to the United States in 1959, and settled in Louisville, Ky. In 1961, the family came to Lakewood, where he first was an engineer with a trailer company.
The Bellflower Symphony was formed in the later half of the 1960s. Its first concert was in the Mayfair High School gymnasium, and from 1968 until 1982 its base was in the Simms Park gymnasium. It then moved into the William Bristol Civic Auditorium in Bellflower.
Szabo is survived by his wife of 40 years, Marie Szabo; son Geza Szabo Jr., son and daughter-in-law George and Sheri Szabo, and son Gary Szabo; and a brother, George Szabo.
The Bellflower Symphony will play the "Going Home" theme from Dvorak's New World Symphony at a memorial service at 2 p.m. Sunday in the William Bristol Civic Auditorium, 16600 Civic Center Drive, Bellflower.
Arrangements are under the direction of the Stricklin/Snively Mortuary in Long Beach."
------------------------
------------------------
I had the pleasure of being in the Bellflower Symphony Orchestra in the late 1970's and was very impressed by Geza's ability to lead and to get people to work together.
I was sad when I heard he had passed away. I still think about the group even though I haven't played an instrument since high school.
FranzJr
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