Eugen Szenkar (Hungarian: Szenkár Jenő; 9 April 1891 – 25 March 1977) was a Hungarian-born German-Brazilian conductor who made an international career in Austria, Germany, Russia, and Brazil.

He promoted the stage works of Bela Bartók and other contemporary music at the Oper Frankfurt, the Cologne Opera, where he conducted the world premiere of The Miraculous Mandarin, and in Berlin.

Szenkar escaped the Nazi regime in 1933 to Vienna, Paris, and Moscow, from where he was expelled in a Stalinist purge.

He tried to build musical life in Rio de Janeiro from 1939 but returned to Germany after World War II.

He remained faithful to his intentions for life, although he was often restricted as a Jew, a foreigner, a perceived leftist, and a non-conformist.

[2] After one season at the Stadttheater Salzburg[2] and a short intermezzo at the Centraltheater Dresden, he became Kapellmeister at the ducal court theatre in Altenburg, Thuringia, in 1917, a position he held until 1920.

[3] There he conducted Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen and all symphonies by Gustav Mahler, then still a composer who was not generally accepted.

[2] In 1920, Szenkar became first Kapellmeister, with Ludwig Rottenberg, at the Oper Frankfurt, where Paul Hindemith played principal viola.

[2] From 1923 to 1924, Szenkar was Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) of the Volksoper in Berlin, where he conducted a highly acclaimed performance of Mussorgski's Boris Godunov in 1924.

At opera house concerts, Szenkar performed Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, his symphonies nos.

In 1934, Szenkar accepted an invitation to Moscow, where he conducted the State Philharmonic Orchestra and was guest conductor at the Bolshoi Theatre.

The beginning of World War II kept him in Brazil, where he and a few colleagues founded the Brazilian Symphony Orchestra in 1940, which he led until 1948.