Antal Doráti (, , ; 9 April 1906 – 13 November 1988) was a Hungarian-born conductor and composer who became a naturalized American citizen in 1943. Biography Antal Doráti was born in Budapest, where his father Alexander Doráti was a violinist with the Budapest Philharmonic Orchestra and his mother Margit Kunwald was a piano teacher. He studied at the Franz Liszt Academy with Zoltán Kodály and Leó Weiner for composition and Béla Bartók for piano. His links with Bartók continued for many years: he conducted the world premiere of Bartók's Viola Concerto, as completed by Tibor Serly, with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1949, with William Primrose as the soloist. He made his conducting debut in 1924 with the Budapest Royal Opera. As well as composing original works, he compiled and arranged pieces by Johann Strauss II for the ballet Graduation Ball (1940), premiered by the Original Ballet Russe in Sydney, Australia, with himself on the conductor's podium. For Ballet Theatre (later renamed American Ballet Theatre) he created scores for the ballets Bluebeard (1941) from music by Jacques Offenbach and The Fair at Sorochinsk (1943) from music by Modest Mussorgsky. His autobiography, Notes of Seven Decades, was published in 1979. In 1983, Doráti was appointed an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE). His wife was Ilse von Alpenheim, an Austrian pianist. Doráti died at the age of 82 in Gerzensee, Switzerland. Career Doráti held posts as principal conductor of the following orchestras: Ballet Russe, Music Director (1937–1941). Ballet Theatre orchestra (1941–1945). Dallas Symphony Orchestra (1945–1948) Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (1949–1960) BBC Symphony Orchestra (1963–1966), which bid him a fond farewell playing his Symphony in Five Movements and his Madrigal Suite. Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra (1966–74), with which he recorded his Symphony No. 1 and his Symphony No. 2, "Querela Pacis" on the BIS label. He took that orchestra on its first international tours. National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, D.C. (1970–1977), which he rescued from bankruptcy and a players' strike. Detroit Symphony Orchestra (1977–1981) Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (1975–1979) Recordings He made his first recording with the London Philharmonic Orchestra for the recording label His Master's Voice. This was later transferred to RCA Records with whom HMV were for some time associated. Over the course of his career Doráti made over 600 recordings. With the Philharmonia Hungarica, Doráti was the second conductor to record the complete symphonies of Joseph