Judith Somogi; Pioneering Conductor, Pianist

Judith Somogi, the dynamic orchestra conductor who was the first woman to conduct an opera in this country and the first woman ever named to conduct at Frankfurt’s prestigious opera house, died Wednesday in a Long Island hospital.

Walter Price, her longtime friend, said Miss Somogi was about 50 and had been fighting cancer for many years.

Born in Brooklyn, Miss Somogi earned degrees at the Juilliard School of Music and began professionally as a rehearsal pianist at the New York City Opera, where she eventually became the nation’s first operatic maestra.

She studied chamber music at Tanglewood, opera in Italy and conducted symphonies in New York and other American cities.

Music Director

In 1977 she made her debut with the New York Philharmonic and from 1977 to 1980 served as music director of the Utica Symphony, making her the first woman to hold a permanent orchestral post in this country.

In January, 1981, she made her debut at the Frankfurt Opera with “Madama Butterfly,” an opera she had conducted in Los Angeles the previous year.

Martin Bernheimer, The Times music critic, wrote that she “presided in the pit with her usual dramatic flair, her predictable concern for clarity, breadth and propulsion. . . .”

That praise came even though her non-conducting arm was in a cast, the result of a car accident.

She is survived by her parents and a sister, all of Long Island.