Lorin Maazel - New York Philharmonic, Music Director and Conductor

Photo Credit: Chris Lee

Lorin Maazel, who has led more than 150 orchestras in more than 5,000 opera and concert performances, became Music Director of the New York Philharmonic in September 2002. His appointment came 60 years after his debut with the Orchestra at Lewisohn Stadium, then the Orchestra’s summer venue. As Music Director he has conducted seven World Premiere–New York Philharmonic Commissions, including the Pulitzer Prize- and Grammy Award-winning On the Transmigration of Souls by John Adams; Stephen Hartke’s Symphony No. 3; and Melinda Wagner’s Trombone Concerto. He has led cycles of works by Brahms and Beethoven, and in 2007 led a Philharmonic festival devoted to Tchaikovsky. He also led the Orchestra’s inaugural performances in the DG Concerts series — a groundbreaking initiative to offer downloadable New York Philharmonic concerts exclusively on iTunes.
Mr. Maazel has taken the Orchestra on numerous international tours, including the May 2007 Tour of Europe; the November 2006 visit to Japan and Korea; the Philharmonic Tour of Italy in June 2006, sponsored by Generali; and the two-part 75th Anniversary European Tour to thirteen cities in five countries in autumn 2005. Previously, he conducted the Philharmonic on tours to Asia, three southern U.S. states, the American Midwest, and in residencies in Cagliari, Sardinia, and the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado.

Prior to his appointment as Music Director, Mr. Maazel conducted more than 100 performances of the New York Philharmonic as a guest conductor. He has served as music director of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (1993–2002), and has held positions as music director of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1988–96); general manager and chief conductor of the Vienna Staatsoper (1982–84) — the first American to hold that position; music director of The Cleveland Orchestra (1972–82); and artistic director and chief conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin (1965–71). Currently, in addition to the New York Philharmonic, he is music director of two recently created musical organizations: the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia, Spain, and Italy’s Symphonica Toscanini, an orchestra of top young professional players, based in Rome. A frequent conductor on the world’s operatic stages, he will return to The Metropolitan Opera in January 2008 for the first time in 45 years to conduct Wagner’s Die Walküre.
A second-generation American, born in Paris, Mr. Maazel was raised and educated in the United States. He took his first violin lesson at age five, and conducting lesson at seven. He studied with Vladimir Bakaleinikoff and appeared publicly for the first time at age eight, conducting a university orchestra. At age nine, he made his New York debut at the 1939 World’s Fair, conducting the Interlochen Orchestra, and led the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, sharing a program with
Leopold Stokowski. He was invited by Arturo Toscanini to conduct the NBC Symphony at age 11, and made his New York Philharmonic debut at the age of 12.

Between ages 9 and 15 Lorin Maazel conducted most of the major American orchestras. At 17 he entered the University of Pittsburgh to study languages, mathematics, and philosophy; while a student, he was a violinist with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, served as apprentice conductor during the 1949–50 season, and organized the Fine Arts Quartet of Pittsburgh. At age 23, he made his European conducting debut, stepping in for an ailing conductor at the Massimo Bellini Theatre in Catania, Sicily. He quickly established himself as a major artist, appearing at Bayreuth in 1960 (the first American to do so), with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1961, and in Salzburg in 1963.
Mr. Maazel has conducted throughout Europe, Australia, North and South America, Japan, the former Soviet Union, at most international festivals (such as those in Salzburg, Edinburgh, and Lucerne) and opera houses (including The Metropolitan Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Paris Opéra, and Royal Opera House, Covent Garden), and with all the major symphony orchestras. He has led numerous New Year’s concerts from Vienna, and has also conducted filmed productions of Don Giovanni, Carmen, and Otello. Mr. Maazel made a worldwide tour in 2000 to mark his 70th birthday, and on August 5, 2001, celebrated his 100th appearance at the Salzburg Festival, where he directed two Verdi operas, Don Carlo and Falstaff. Other highlights of his recent seasons include complete cycles of the Brahms symphonies and concertos at Suntory Hall in Tokyo and Carnegie Hall in New York; the 2004 televised New Year’s Concert at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice as part of the reopening festival of the famed opera house; and numerous guest-conducting appearances.

Lorin Maazel has some 300 recordings to his name. These include the symphonic cycles of Beethoven and Brahms with The Cleveland Orchestra; Mahler and Tchaikovsky with the Vienna Philharmonic; Sibelius with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra; and Rachmaninoff with the Berlin Philharmonic. He has also recorded Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde, and Richard Strauss tone poems (complete) with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess with The Cleveland Orchestra (the first complete recordings of these works); works by Puccini and Verdi with La Scala Philharmonic Orchestra, and Wagner with the Berlin
Philharmonic; Ravel’s L’Enfant et les Sortilèges, Beethoven’s Fidelio, Mendelssohn’s Symphonies Nos. 4 and 5, and Mozart violin concertos, with himself as soloist, and Stravinsky’s Histoire du soldat. He is the recipient of 10 Grand Prix du Disque Awards.
Lorin Maazel is also an accomplished composer. On May 3, 2005, his opera, 1984, received its world premiere at London’s Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, and will be revived in the 2007–08 season at the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia in Valencia and at the Teatro all Scala in Milan. A DVD of the opera is scheduled for release in the
2007–08 season.

As a violinist, Mr. Maazel has appeared as soloist with numerous orchestras, both in the U.S. and abroad; as part of his 70th birthday tour he performed his own Music for Violin and Orchestra, in addition to a worldwide tour with pianist Yefim Bronfman, with whom he performed the three Brahms Sonatas for Violin and Piano.

In January 2006 Mr. Maazel received a Special MIDEM Award for lifetime achievement, and the Premio Abbiati — the top prize —from the National Association of Music Critics in Italy as Conductor of the Year for 2006. He was named honorary member of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in 1985 when he conducted its 40th anniversary concert, is an honorary member of the Vienna Philharmonic, and is the recipient of the Hans von Bülow Silver Medal from the Berlin Philharmonic. Other honors, decorations, and awards include the Commander’s Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, the Legion of Honor of France, and the Commander of the Lion of Finland. He also has been awarded the title of Ambassador of Good Will by the United Nations.