Zoltán Peskó

Zoltán Peskó (15 February 1937 – 31 March 2020) was a Hungarian conductor and composer who held leading positions at German, Italian and Portuguese opera houses and orchestras, including the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Teatro Comunale di Bologna, La Fenice, and Teatro Nacional de São Carlos. He was a regular conductor at La Scala, where he promoted contemporary opera.

Early life and education Peskó was born in Budapest, Hungary, on 15 February 1937. In 1979, Peskó conducted Beethoven's Christus am Ölberge with the RAI Orchestra.

Peskó then served as chief conductor of the , the orchestra of the Teatro Nacional de São Carlos in Lisbon, Among the highlights at the theatre was a performance of Tchaikovsky's rarely performed opera The Enchantress in a collaboration with the Mariinsky Theatre, staged by David Pountney. A review of The New York Times noted that Peskó's "conducting responded keenly to the flow of the drama, and the Sao Carlos orchestra rose to the challenge of the unfamiliar score". His tenure with the orchestra ended acrimoniously, with Peskó alleging that they had not paid him, while the orchestra claimed he had breached his contract by not spending sufficient time each year in Portugal. The labour court found in Peskó's favour, ordering the orchestra to pay him, but this decision was later overturned and the ruling against Peskó in favour of the orchestra was confirmed at the Supreme Court of Justice in 2013.

He was chief conductor of the Pannon Philharmonic in Pécs from 2009 to 2011. and lectured at the Musikhochschule Berlin.