Ottó Károlyi (26 March 1934 â 30 November 2015) was a musicologist of Hungarian background, born in Paris who lived and worked for most of his career in the United Kingdom. He studied in Budapest, Vienna, and London, taking a diploma at Trinity College of Music and a degree at the University of London. He became a teacher at schools, adult education establishments, conservatories and universities, as well as a musicologist, broadcaster and author on musical subjects. In the mid-1990s he was Senior Lecturer of Music at the University of Stirling, Scotland, where he founded the Music department and remained employed even after the department's closure.
Károlyi married Heather Goodare in 1957; they had a son, born in 1971 but the marriage broke up. He later married Benedikte Uttenthal. Károlyi died in 2015 at the age of 81.