After graduation, Heltay worked as a conductor for radio stations and local church choirs. Following the failed Hungarian revolution in 1956, he emigrated to Britain, arrriving as a 26-year-old refugee speaking barely any English: all he possessed was his grandfather’s overcoat, a letter of recommendation from Kodály and a box of conducting batons. After attending a language school in Leeds he settled in London, where he cleaned offices in Oxford Street.