ALMO - XXI: MUSIC - Series of Conductors Claudio Abbado ( 1933

MUSIC

Series of Conductors

Claudio Abbado

( 1933 - 2014 )

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The artistic life of Claudio Abbado is completely related to many of the top conductors of his beginnings as a prolific musician. Taking into account his studies as a pianist, conductor and composer, one may understand the intensity of each one of his performances.

A well-known conductor from his early years in orchestras such as in the Vienna Academy of Music, Chigiana Academy in Sienna, New York Philharmonic. Vienna Philharmonic, Halle Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, and many others during his fruitful musical career.

You may consider Claudio Abbado a profound follower of the greatest conductors from whom he learnt his mastery of art.

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Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia

Born in Milan, Italy on 26 June 1933, Claudio Abbado was the son of violinist Michelangelo Abbado, and the brother of the musician Marcello Abbado (born 1926). His father, a professional violinist and a professor at the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory, was his first piano teacher. His mother, Maria Carmela Savagnone, also was an adept pianist. Marcello Abbado later became a concert pianist, composer, and teacher at the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro. His sister also exhibited talent in music but did not pursue a musical career after her marriage. His other brother later became a successful architect.

Conducting career

In 1969, Abbado became the principal conductor at La Scala. Subsequently, he became the company's music director in 1972. He took the title of joint artistic director, along with Giorgio Strehler and Carlo Maria Badini, in 1976. During his tenure, he extended the opera season to four months, and focused on giving inexpensive performances for the working class and students. In addition to the standard opera repertoire, he presented contemporary operas, including works of Luigi Dallapiccola and of Luigi Nono, in particular, the world premiere of Nono's Al gran sole carico d'amore. In 1976, he brought the La Scala company to the US for its American debut in Washington, D.C. for the American Bicentennial. In 1982, he founded the Filarmonica della Scala for the performance of orchestral repertoire by the house orchestra in concert. Abbado remained affiliated with La Scala until 1986.

On 7 October 1968, Abbado made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera with Don Carlo. He began to work more extensively with the Vienna Philharmonic (VPO) after 1971, which included two engagements as conductor of the orchestra's New Year's Day concert, in 1988 and 1991. He was a recipient of both the Philharmonic Ring and the Golden Nicolai Medal from the Vienna Philharmonic.

He served as Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) from 1975 to 1979 and became its Principal Conductor in 1979, a post he held until 1987. (He was also the LSO's Music Director from 1984 until the end of his principal conductor tenure.) From 1982 to 1985, he was principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO). In 1986, Abbado became the Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) of the city of Vienna, and in parallel, was music director of the Vienna State Opera from 1986 to 1991. During his tenure as GMD in Vienna, in 1988, he founded the music festival Wien Modern. There he backed numerous contemporary composers including György Ligeti, Pierre Boulez, and Luigi Nono.