Károly Melles

Károly Melles is a Hungarian-Austrian conductor. Father of actress Sunja Máles.

He graduated from the Budapest Academy of Music (1949), after which he led the Miskolc Symphony Orchestra and the Budapest Franz Liszt Choir, also worked with the Hungarian State Symphony Orchestra, in 1953 he was awarded the Liszt Prize for his performance of "Psalmus Hungaricus" by Zoltan Kodály, dedicated to the 70th anniversary of the composer. He teaches at the Budapest Academy of Music.

In 1957 he emigrated from Hungary, in 1966 he received Austrian citizenship. Immediately after his emigration, he briefly conducted the Luxembourg Radio Orchestra, then worked regularly with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Vienna Volksoper for many years, regularly gave concerts at the Teatro Comunale in Bologna, and was awarded the title of Honorary Conductor of the Braunschweig Staatsorchester after performing a cycle of all the symphonies of Ludwig van Beethoven with that ensemble in 1995. In 1966, he conducted Richard Wagner's opera Tannhäuser at the Bayreuth Festival, a performance which has been recorded.