Lorin Maazel

Lorin Varencove Maazel March 6 1930 July 13 2014 was an American conductor violinist and composer He began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music He had established a reputation in the concert halls of Europe by 1960 but by comparison his career in the US progressed far more slowly He served as music director of The Cleveland Orchestra Orchestre National de France Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic among other posts Maazel was wellregarded in baton technique and possessed a photographic memory for scores Described as mercurial and forbidding in rehearsal he mellowed in old age Maazel was born to American parents of Russian Jewish origin in NeuillysurSeine France His grandfather Isaac Maazel 18731925 born in Poltava Ukraine then in the Russian Empire for two decades was the first violinist in the Metropolitan Opera he and his wife Esther Glazer 18791921 originally from Kharkiv Ukraine then in the Russian Empire came to America in 1900 after the birth of their eldest son Marvin 18991988 who later became a pianist and composer Maazel was brought up in the United States primarily at his parents home in the city of Pittsburghs Oakland neighborhood His father Lincoln Maazel 19032009 was a singer teacher of voice and piano and an actor he costarred in George A Romeros 1978 horror movie Martin and his mother Marion Marie Shulman Maazel 18941992 founded the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra His grandfather Isaac was a violinist in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for twenty years Maazel was a child prodigy and had perfect pitch He had his first conducting lesson at age seven with Vladimir Bakaleinikov making his debut at age eight conducting the University of Idaho Orchestra in Schuberts Unfinished Symphony in Los Angeles in 1938 In the same year he conducted the National High School Orchestra at the National Music Camp in Interlochen Michigan The following year he conducted 11 concerts by the same orchestra at the New York Worlds Fair At the age of eleven he guestconducted the NBC Symphony Orchestra on the radio At twelve he toured the United States to conduct major orchestras He made his violin debut at the age of fifteen He attended the Fanny Edel Falk Laboratory School at the University of Pittsburgh as a child followed by Peabody High School and the University of Pittsburgh Maazel studied briefly with Pierre Monteux in 1945 In the early 1950s Maazel toured as the conductor with the Gershwin Concert Orchestra The orchestra consisted of 25 members and a noted array of soloists The orchestra was organized in cooperation with Ira Gershwin to give the public a comprehensive Gershwin program The list of soloists included George Gershwins friend Jesús María Sanromá Carolyn Long and Theodor Uppman In 1960 Maazel became the first American to conduct at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus He was chief conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 1965 to 1971 and the RadioSymphonieOrchester RSO Berlin from 1964 to 1975 Source Article Lorin Maazel from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30