Pierre Monteux - Notable premieres

Conductor, born in Paris, France. He trained at the Paris Conservatoire, where he began his career as a viola player. He conducted Diaghilev's Ballets Russes in Paris (1911–14, 1917), and in 1914 organized the ‘Concerts Monteux’, whose programmes gave prominence to new French and Russian music. Founding and directing the Orchestre Symphonique de Paris, in 1936 he took over the newly organized San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and in 1941 established a summer school for student conductors at Hanover, NH. From 1960 until his death he was principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and became one of the 20th-c's leading conductors, his interpretations equally admired in ballet, opera, and symphonic music.

Pierre Monteux (April 4, 1875 – July 1, 1964) was an orchestra conductor. Born in Paris, France, Monteux later became an American citizen.

Monteux studied violin from an early age, entering the Paris Conservatoire at the age of nine.

In 1911, with a little conducting experience in Dieppe behind him, Monteux became conductor of Sergei Diaghilev's ballet company, the Ballets Russes. In this capacity he conducted the premieres of Igor Stravinsky's Petrushka (1911) and The Rite of Spring (1913) as well as Claude Debussy's Jeux and Maurice Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé.

With the outbreak of World War I, Monteux was called up for military service, but was discharged in 1916, and travelled to the United States.

He then moved to the Boston Symphony Orchestra (1919-24).

In 1924, Monteux began an association with the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, working alongside Willem Mengelberg. In the year the orchestra was founded, he led it in the world premiere of Sergei Prokofiev's third symphony.

Monteux then returned to the United States, and worked with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra from 1935 to 1952. In 1943, he founded a conducting school, The Pierre Monteux School for Conductors and Orchestra Musicians, in Hancock, Maine, the childhood home of his wife, Doris Hodgkins Monteux, where Monteux was now living.

Monteux made a large number of recordings throughout his career, most of which are widely admired. His recordings include performances with the San Francisco Symphony, made for RCA Victor in San Francisco's War Memorial Opera, from 1941 to 1952. During guest appearances with the orchestra in 1960, he recorded works by Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss in stereo for RCA.

From 1961 to 1964 he was principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra.

Pierre Monteux was the father of the flautist and conductor Claude Monteux.

Notable premieres

Stravinsky, Petrushka, Ballets Russes, Paris, 13 June 1911 Ravel, Daphnis et Chloé, Ballets Russes, Paris, June 8, 1912 Debussy, Jeux, Ballets Russes, Paris, May 15, 1913 Stravinsky, The Rite of Spring, Ballets Russes, Paris, May 29, 1913 Stravinsky, The Nightingale, Paris, May 26, 1914