More Info on Claudio AbbadoSimilar Undetermined MusicSearch Artistopia
Biography
Claudio Abbado , Italian orders of merit|Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI http://www.quirinale.it/onorificenze/DettaglioDecorato.asp? idprogressivo=15071& iddecorato=14651 quirinale.it (IPA-it|'klaudio ab'ba?do; born June 26, 1933), is an Italy|Italian Conducting|conductor . He has served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan , principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra , principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra , music director of the Vienna State Opera , and principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra from 1989 to 2002, when he retired from the position for health reasons.
Biography
Born in Milan , Italy , Abbado is the son of the violinist and composer Michelangelo Abbado , who was his first piano teacher, and the brother of musician Marcello Abbado . After studying piano at the Milan Conservatory ,cite book|last=Randel|first=Don Michael|title=The Harvard biographical dictionary of music|year=1996|publisher=Belknap Press of Harvard Univ. Press|location=Cambridge, Mass.|isbn=0-674-37299-9|pages=1|chapter=Claudio Abbado in 1955 Claudio Abbado studied conducting with Hans Swarowsky at the Vienna Academy of Music . In 1958 he won the international Koussevitsky Competition for conductors, which resulted in a number of operatic conducting engagements in Italy, and in 1963 he won the Dimitri Mitropoulos Prize for conductors, allowing him to work for five months with the New York Philharmonic .
Abbado recalls desiring to become a conductor for the first time as a child, when he heard a performance of Claude Debussy 's Nocturnes . He had the opportunity to attend many orchestral rehearsals in Milan led by such conductors as Arturo Toscanini and Wilhelm Furtwängler and has told interviewers that Toscanini's tyrannical and sometimes abusive manner towards musicians in rehearsal repelled him, and that he resolved to behave in the gentler manner of Bruno Walter . Abbado is known to exhibit a friendly, understated, and non-confrontational manner in rehearsal.
He made his début at La Scala in his hometown of Milan in 1960 and served as its music director from 1968 to 1986, conducting not only the traditional Italian repertoire but also presenting a contemporary opera each year, as well as a concert series devoted to the works of Alban Berg and Modest Mussorgsky . Abbado also founded the Filarmonica della Scala in 1982, for the performance of orchestral repertoire in concert.
Abbado conducted the Vienna Philharmonic for the first time in 1965 in a concert at the Salzburg Festival . He served as music director for the Vienna State Opera from 1986 to 1991, with notable productions such as Mussorgsky's original Boris Godunov (opera)|Boris Godunov and his seldom-heard Khovanshchina , Franz Schubert 's Fierrabras , and Gioacchino Rossini 's Il viaggio a Reims .
From 1979 to 1987 he was principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra , and from 1982 to 1986 he was principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra . With both orchestras, Abbado made a number of recordings for Deutsche Grammophon .
In 1989, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra elected him as their chief conductor, to succeed Herbert von Karajan , a post he held until 2002.cite news | author=Alex Ross | title=Beethoven Unbound | url= http://www.therestisnoise.com/2004/05/abbados_beethov.html | work=The New Yorker | date=2001-10-22 | accessdate=2007-08-07 In 2004 he returned to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic and performed Mahler's Symphony No. 6 (Mahler)|Symphony No. 6 in a series of recorded live concerts. The resulting CD won Best Orchestral Recording and Record of the Year in Gramophone Magazine's 2006 awards.cite web | author= | title= Best of Category (Orchestral), Gramophone Award Winner, and Record of the Year | url= http://www.gramophone.co.uk/awardstemplate.asp? id=955& award_year=2006 | work=Gramophone | month=June | year=2006 | accessdate=2007-08-07 |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070215092400/ http://www.gramophone.co.uk/awardstemplate.asp? id=955& award_year=2006 |archivedate = 2007-02-15
The Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic established the Claudio Abbado Composition Prize in 2006 in his honour.cite news | author=Matthew Westphal | title=Berlin Philharmonic Names Winner of First Claudio Abbado Composition Prize | url= http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/5540.html | publisher= Playbill Arts | date=2006-11-06 | accessdate=2007-09-01
Claudio Abbado has performed and recorded a wide range of Romantic music|Romantic works, in particular Gustav Mahler whose symphonies he has recorded several times. He is also noted for his interpretations of modern works by composers such as Arnold Schoenberg , Karlheinz Stockhausen , Giacomo Manzoni , Luigi Nono , Bruno Maderna , Thomas Adler , Giovanni Sollima , Roberto Carnevale , Franco Donatoni and George Benjamin (composer)|George Benjamin .
In 1988, he founded the music festival Wien Modern , which has since expanded to include all aspects of contemporary art. This interdisciplinary festival takes place each year under his direction.
Abbado is also well known for his work with young musicians. He is founder and music director of the European Union Youth Orchestra (1978) and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester (1986). He is also a frequent guest conductor with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe with whom he recorded a cycle of Franz Schubert symphonies to considerable acclaim. More recently, he has worked with the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar of Venezuela .cite news | url= http://arts.guardian.co.uk/filmandmusic/story/0,,1955176,00.html | title=Land of hope and glory | publisher= The Guardian | author=Charlotte Higgins | date=2006-11-24 | accessdate=2007-09-01
He was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2000 and the treatment led to the removal of a portion of his digestive system. After recovery he formed the Lucerne Festival Orchestra in 2003cite news | url= http://music.guardian.co.uk/proms2007/story/0,,2153754,00.html | title=The maestro | publisher= The Guardian | author=Tom Service | date=2007-08-22 | accessdate=2007-08-30 and their concerts have been highly acclaimed.cite news | url= http://music.guardian.co.uk/proms2007/story/0,,2155410,00.html | title=Lucerne Festival Orchestra/Abbado (review of Prom 51, 2007) | publisher= The Guardian | author=Andrew Clements | date=2007-08-24 | accessdate=2007-08-30Abbado is scheduled to remain as the orchestra's music director and chief conductor through 2010.cite news | url= http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/1293.html | title=Claudio Abbado Extends Tenure at Lucerne Festival Orchestra | publisher= Playbill Arts | author=Ben Mattison | date=2005-02-01 | accessdate=2007-09-01 He also serves as music director of the Orchestra Mozart of Bologna , Italy .
In September 2007 he announced that he was cancelling all of his forthcoming conducting engagements for the "near future" on the advice of his physicianscite news | url= http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/07/arts/music/07abba.html | title=Abbado, Ill, Cancels Appearances | publisher= New York Times | author=Daniel J. Wakin | date=2007-09-07 | accessdate=2007-09-07 but two months later he resumed conducting concerts with an engagement in Bologna.cite news | url= http://www.playbillarts.com/news/article/7338.html | title=Claudio Abbado Returns to Podium Following Illness | publisher= Playbill Arts | author=Matthew Westphal | date=2007-11-09 | accessdate=2007-11-11 In July 2011, aged 78, he declared himself to be in good health. http://www.artsjournal.com/slippeddisc/2011/07/abbado-cautiously-gives-himself-clean-bill-of-health.html
Abbado's son is the opera director Daniele Abbado . From his relationship with the violinist Viktoria Mullova , he is the father of her oldest child, Misha.cite news | url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/friday_review/story/0,3605,431917,00.html | title=And this one's by the Bee Gees | publisher= The Guardian | author=Tim Ashley | date=2001-02-02 | accessdate=2007-08-30 His nephew, Roberto Abbado , (the son of his brother Marcello, born 1926, who is a composer and pianist) is also a conductor.
Awards
Claudio Abbado has received many awards and recognitions among which the Grand cross of the Légion d'honneur , Bundesverdienstkreuz , Imperial Prize of Japan , Mahler Medal , Khytera Prize , and honorary doctorates from the universities of Ferrara , Cambridge , Aberdeen , and Havana .
In 1973, he won the Mozartinterpretationspreis|Mozart Medal awarded by Mozartgemeinde Wien ,cite web|url= http://www.enotes.com/contemporary-musicians/abbado-claudio-biography|title=Claudio Abbado biography and the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 1994.
He has won 1997 Grammy Award in the Grammy Award for Best Small Ensemble Performance|Best Small Ensemble Performance (with or without conductor) category for "Hindemith: Kammermusik (Hindemith)|Kammermusik No. 1 With Finale 1921, Op. 24 No. 1" and 2005 Grammy Award in the Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra)|Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with Orchestra) category for "Beethoven: Piano Cons. Nos. 2 & 3" performed by Martha Argerich .
In April 2012, Abbado was voted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame,cite web|title=Claudio Abbado (conductor)|url= http://www.gramophone.co.uk/HallofFame/ArtistPage/Perry|publisher=Gramophone|accessdate=10 April 2012 and in May of the same year, he was awarded the conductor prize at the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards .cite news|title=Claudio Abbado awarded classical honour|url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-17989089#|accessdate=May 9, 2012|newspaper=BBC News|date=May 9, 2012
s-startsuccession box | title= La Scala|Music Director, La Scala, Milan | before= Guido Cantelli | years=1968–1986 | after= Riccardo Muti s-endWolf Prize in ArtsLSO principal conductorsBerliner Philharmoniker conductors Persondata| NAME = Abbado, Claudio | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = Conductor | DATE OF BIRTH = 1933-06-26 | PLACE OF BIRTH = | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Abbado, Claudio Category:Italian conductors (music) Category:Music directors (opera) Category:Music directors of the Vienna State Opera Category:London Symphony Orchestra principal conductors Category:Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medallists Category:Sony BMG artists Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Commanders Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Category:Grand Croix of the Légion d'honneur Category:Honorary Members of the Royal Academy of Music Category:Wolf Prize in Arts laureates Category:Alumni of the University of Music and Performing Arts, Vienna Category:Alumni of the Accademia Musicale Chigiana Category:Milan Conservatory alumni Category:Cancer survivors Category:Italian expatriates in Austria Category:Italian expatriates in the United Kingdom Category:Italian expatriates in Germany Category:People from Milan Category:1933 births Category:Living people
