Maurice Abravanel - Sources

Conductor, born in Thessaloníki, Greece. After conducting in Europe and at the Metropolitan Opera (1936–8), he began a highly successful tenure with the Utah Symphony (1947–79), where he became known for performing works of American and other contemporary composers.

Maurice Abravanel, (January 6, 1903 – September 22, 1993), was a Greek-born Swiss conductor.

Abravanel was born in Saloniki (Thessalonica), Greece when it was still part of the Ottoman Empire.

For several years, the Abravanels lived in the same house as Ernest Ansermet, the conductor of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande.

Maurice's father, however, insisted on a career in medicine and sent him to the University of Zürich, where he was miserable, having to dissect corpses.

In 1922, during the depths of the depression of the Weimar Republic, Abravanel went to Berlin.

Abravanel became a student of the composer Kurt Weill, who had to accept up to 46 students to make ends meet. At the time, this was a good career path towards becoming a conductor because the accompanist had rehearsed and coached the singers and would sometimes be called on to substitute when the conductor was unable to conduct at short notice.

In 1924, the theatre in Neustrelitz burned down, and the four conductors found work elsewhere. The members of the orchestra asked Abravanel if he would conduct performances at the castle.

In 1925, Abravanel received a position as choral director in Zwickau, in Saxony.

In Altenburg, he auditioned a young singer whose name was Friedel Schako, the daughter of the noted soprano Hedwig Schako.

After two years in Altenburg, Abravanel was appointed conductor at his first major opera house in Kassel. In 1931, the director of the Berlin State Opera saw him conduct a performance of Verdi's La forza del destino. He asked him to come to Berlin and conduct a performance at the Berlin State Opera.

Because of the rise of Adolf Hitler, prominent Jewish musicians were being forced to leave Germany.

In Paris, he worked with Bruno Walter. Walter recommended Abravanel as a guest conductor at the Paris Opera, and he was able to cast, rehearse, and conduct Mozart's Don Giovanni there.

He also met George Balanchine in Paris and conducted his ballets, as well as conducting the works of his old teacher and friend, Kurt Weill.

In 1933, anti-German sentiment forced Kurt Weill to leave for New York.

He conducted a 13-week season in Melbourne and a two-month season in Sidney with Verdi's Aida as the opener in both cities and a balanced selection of the standard repertoire, including Puccini, Wagner and Bizet.

In mid-spring of 1936, he received an offer from the Metropolitan Opera in New York to come and conduct the German and French repertoire.

He also conducted Kurt Weill's productions on Broadway. He was selected from a field of 40 applicants for the position with the Utah Symphony Orchestra and conducted it from 1947 to 1979, building it from a part-time community orchestra into a well-respected, professional ensemble with recording contracts with Vanguard, Vox, Angel, and CBS.

Abravanel also directed the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, California, where young musicians gathered for summer music camps.

He is remembered for making the first-ever complete recording of the nine Mahler symphonies, as well as classic recordings of the Berlioz Requiem and works by Vaughan Williams.

Abravanel died in Salt Lake City, Utah, at the age of 90.

Sources

Durham, Lowell, Abravanel!, Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1989.

Preceded by: Werner Janssen

Music directors, Utah Symphony Orchestra 1947–1979

Succeeded by: Varujan Kojian