My friend Betty Hudson, who has died aged 98, was a musician and teacher with a sense of adventure. She had a varied life that centred on her love of music.

A fine pianist, in the late 1940s she studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London, where she was proud to have been taught by a pupil of the eminent Polish pianist Theodor Leschetizky.

After falling in love with a Hungarian violinist, in the 1950s Betty followed him to Budapest, where she studied with the composer and music educationist Zoltán Kodály. There, she also got to know the composer György Kurtág and took piano lessons from him. She loved living in Budapest, where she also did some teaching, but in 1956 she was forced to leave because of the Hungarian uprising.

Returning to the UK, she became a music teacher and head of department. Many of her students went on to pursue successful careers, including the leading bass-baritone Matthew Brook.

Born in Sheffield, Betty was the youngest of three daughters of Rose (nee Holmes), a dressmaker, and William Hudson, a table knife cutler.

Betty started to learn piano as a young child. After Abbeydale girls’ grammar school, she did a music degree at Sheffield University (1945-48), before going to the Royal Academy of Music.

After she returned to London from Hungary, her fluent Hungarian meant Betty was able to find translation work alongside her music teaching, including translating for the Hungarian football team during the 1966 World Cup.

In the mid-60s she joined the staff of Brighouse girls’ grammar school as head of music. In the 70s she became deputy head of the music department at Huddersfield Technical College, which is where I, a music lecturer, got to know her, and where she taught Brook, who described his A-level music teacher as “a lovely lady”.

After her retirement in 1992, Betty continued to travel the world, often to European music festivals, the Verbier festival being a favourite. As well as giving piano lessons, she learned the cello and played in a string quartet until she was well into her 80s. She was a lover of fine wines and an excellent cook.

She is survived by two nephews and a great-niece.