Until World War II Budapest was one of Europe's leading centers of music. There Gabor Rejto received his instruction in cello, beginning with the teacher Frederick Teller, a very progressive teacher of the instrument. He was well-prepared when he entered the Budapest Academy of Music at the age of 16. He graduated as a fully certified performer at the age of 18 and started a concert career. While Budapest was a good place from which to start, 1934 was not the best time. However, he was able to travel and study with Casals in Barcelona and then in Prades. He found that his old Hungarian teacher's "advanced" ideas fit in well with Casals' revolutionary cello technique. He was one of the earliest Casals pupils to realize the dangers of emerging as a mere copy of the Catalan master. He found he was able to adopt the Casals technique but use it as a springboard for his own musical ideas. He moved to the United States in 1939 before the outbreak of World War II. He became a professor at both the Eastman and Manhattan Schools of Music. From 1954 until his death he was a professor at the University of Southern California. He recorded frequently, and was particularly successful in the field of chamber music. He joined the Paganini Quartet, the Hungarian String Quartet, and the Alma Trio, of which he was a founding member. He became a highly esteemed teacher, and won the Artist-Teacher of the Year Award from the American String Teachers' Association.