Eugene Ormandy (born Jenő Blau; November 18, 1899 – March 12, 1985) was a Hungarian-born American conductor and violinist, best known for his association with the Philadelphia Orchestra, as its music director.

[3] From 1917 Blau undertook first tours in Hungary and Germany; among other things as concertmaster of the Berlin Blüthner Orchestra.

In this post he became nationally known in the US through his recordings, which included the first versions on disc of Kodály's Háry János suite and Schoenberg's Verklärte Nacht.

[4] Ormandy built on what Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians calls "Stokowski's voluptuous 'Philadelphia Sound'" and added further polish and precision.

[15] He was thought superficial; Toscanini dismissed him as "an ideal conductor of Johann Strauss"[15] and a similar remark is attributed to Igor Stravinsky.

[16] Donald Peck, principal flute of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, reports that a fellow flutist was won over when Ormandy conducted the Chicago in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony; he told Peck that it was the greatest Ninth he had ever heard.

[15] Grove comments that Ormandy may have contributed to this image by concentrating on the late-Romantic and early 20th-century repertory that showed to advantage the lush sound he could command in works by composers such as Debussy, Ravel, Richard Strauss, Tchaikovsky, and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Schonberg commented that Ormandy programmed very little Haydn or Mozart and approached Beethoven "in a rather gingerly manner".

[15] He conducted much less new music than his predecessor, Stokowski, had done,[16] but did not ignore it, and gave the premieres of works including Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, which is dedicated to him and the orchestra, Bartók's Piano Concerto No.3, Britten's Diversions for Piano Left Hand and Orchestra and music by Ginastera, Hindemith, Martinů, Milhaud, Villa-Lobos and Webern.

[4] He did not neglect American composers, and among premieres he gave were works by Samuel Barber, David Diamond, Walter Piston, Ned Rorem, William Schuman, Roger Sessions and Virgil Thomson.

[21] He was appointed by Queen Elizabeth II as an honorary Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (KBE) in 1976,[22] and received of Yale University's Sanford Medal.

"[30] Following the divorce she joined the faculty at the Philadelphia Music Academy while announcing plans to resume her performing.

3, "Organ'" were considered the best ever produced by Fanfare Magazine which remarked of the 1974 RCA Red Seal recording with organist Virgil Fox: "This beautifully played performance outclasses all versions of this symphony."

[34] Under Ormandy's baton, the Philadelphia Orchestra had three gold records and won two Grammy Awards.

[35] Ormandy's first digital recording was a performance of Béla Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra for RCA Red Seal in 1979.