He studied at the National Conservatory of Music in Budapest, where his major subjects were organ performance and composition.

He joined the Budapest State Opera at the age of twenty, where he was engaged as a rehearsal coach.

[1] At Bayreuth, he assisted Arturo Toscanini, an experience which was to be of decisive importance for the remainder of his career.

Between the two world wars, he studied in Budapest under such conductors as Arturo Toscanini, Bruno Walter, Felix Weingartner and Wilhelm Furtwängler.

From 1948 until 1950, Ferencsik was principal guest conductor of the Vienna State Opera, he was guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic,[4] and toured widely abroad, conducting on every continent with the exception of Africa, Ferencsik was a friend of Hungarian composers László Lajtha, Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály and was known for his interpretations of their works.