Jenő Ádám

Who was Jenő Ádám?

Jenö Ádám was a Hungarian music educator, composer, and conductor.

Born in Szigetszentmiklós, Hungary, Ádám studied composition and conducting at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music where he was a pupil of Zoltán Kodály. He later became a longtime teacher at the school and developed a close working relationship with Kodály. Beginning in 1935, the two collaborated on a long term project to reform music teaching in the lower and middle schools. Many of Ádám's teaching methods and curricula developed during that project were adopted by Kodály and are now a part of the Kodály Method. Ádám was the author of several books on music education that were published in Hungary during the 1940s, two of which were co-authored with Kodály. His methodology has had a profound impact on music education internationally and is still studied today by students of the Kodaly Method. The Organization of American Kodály Educators has established an academic scholarship in his name.

Jenö Ádám was responsible for the first performances in Hungary of the Dettingen Te Deum and other oratorios by George Frideric Handel, L'enfance du Christ by Hector Berlioz, and Dido and Aeneas by Henry Purcell.