Maurice Abravanel

Maurice Abravanel was an American classical music conductor who was born in Greece to a Sephardic Jewish family. He moved to Switzerland at the age of five and developed a passion for music. He studied piano and composition with Ernest Ansermet, Kurt Weill, and Igor Stravinsky. He began his conducting career in Germany, where he worked at various opera houses and met many famous composers. He fled to Paris in 1933 when the Nazis came to power and became the music director of George Balanchine's ballet company. He also conducted at the Paris Opera and in Australia. In 1936, he moved to the United States and became the youngest conductor ever hired by the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He left the Met in 1938 to conduct on Broadway, where he collaborated with Kurt Weill again. He also conducted symphony orchestras in Minneapolis, Cleveland, and Chicago. In 1947, he was appointed as the music director of the Utah Symphony, a position he held for 32 years. He transformed the Utah Symphony into a world-class orchestra, making over 100 recordings and leading four international tours. He also founded the Utah Symphony Chorus and the Utah Opera Company. He was a champion of contemporary music and commissioned or premiered works by many composers, such as Igor Stravinsky, Darius Milhaud, William Schuman, and Leroy Robertson. He also conducted the complete symphonies of Gustav Mahler, Anton Bruckner, and Johannes Brahms. He was a mentor to many young musicians and a teacher at the Tanglewood Music Center, where he was named artist-in-residence-for-life. He received many honors and awards, including the National Medal of Arts, the Ditson Conductor's Award, and the Mahler Medal. He retired from the Utah Symphony in 1979 and died in 1993 at the age of 90. He was married three times and had no children. He is remembered as one of the most influential and respected conductors of the 20th century.