Fricsay was born in Budapest in 1914. His music teachers were Hungary's most famous composers: Béla Bartók, Zoltán Kodály and Ernst von Dohnányi. He was only 15 when he conducted his first concert, and he soon became very famous. He became music director of the then newly formed RIAS Symphony Orchestra in Germany in 1949. He was conductor of the Houston Symphony in 1954. He spent much of his time from the 1950s onward in Germany as conductor of the Bavarian State Opera (1956–1958), the RIAS Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Berlin Philharmonic.