Laszlo Polgar was born in Somogyszentpal, Hungary, in 1947. He studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest under Eva Kutrucz and also took private lessons with Hans Hotter and Yevgeny Nesterenko.

In 1971, he made his debut at the Hungarian State Opera as Count Ceprano in Verdi’s Rigoletto. Ten years later, he shone as Rodolfo in Bellini’s La sonnambula at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in London, and has been in demand internationally ever since. In 1989, he appeared at Covent Garden as Bluebeard in Bartok’s Bluebeard’s Castle, a role seemingly tailor-made for him, which he performed multiple times including at the festival in Aix-en-Provence, among others. In 1999, the recording of the opera with Polgar as Bluebeard and Jessye Norman as Judith, conducted by Pierre Boulez, won a GRAMMY Award.

Polgar not only sang a wide variety of operatic roles from Mozart to Wagner, but songs and oratorios were also part of his repertoire. In addition, he taught at the University of Music in Winterthur (Switzerland) and at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. He died in Zurich in 2010.