There’s nothing more satisfying than kicking back after a long day, and enjoying a hot cup of tea, along with some relaxing music. This is particularly true of classical music, especially when the musical compositions are executed by orchestras led by great conductors who opened new avenues in the choice of repertoire and the conducting style.
Below we present some of the most remarkable conductors who have conducted exquisitely wonderful orchestras who enchanted and moved the audience during their performances.
Leopold Stokowski
Leopold Stokowski was an English conductor, best known for his work with the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1912 to 1936 (though he continued to conduct until 1941), including on the renowned Disney film “Fantasia”. Born in 1882 in London, Stokowski was known for his flamboyant style of conducting while on stage. He was a showman, as much as he was a musician, and is credited for popularizing classical music during the early 20th century.
He also organized the All-American Youth Orchestra, and was known for frequently rearranging the orchestrating order of the pieces he conducted. Stokowski died in 1977, at the grand age of 95.
Lorin Maazel
Lorin Varencove Maazel was a precocious artist, who started conducting at the very tender age of eight. He was also a skilled student, and as a child, excelled in mathematics, and foreign languages, also.
Born in 1930, in Neuilly-sur-Seine in France, Maazel rapidly became famous across the U.S. music scene of the 1950s and 60s.
He was the musical director of several prestigious orchestras, such as the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, as well as the recipient of numerous Grammy Awards.
Across the music world, Maazel was known as a fairly rigid and strict conductor. Late in his life, Maazel founded the Castleton Festival for youth, which takes place every year in Virginia. Maazel died in 2014, at the age of 84.
Claudio Abbado
As the name suggests, Claudio Abbado is one of the most well-known Italian conductors of the 20th and 21st centuries. Born in Milan, Abbado conducted some of the most prestigious orchestras, such as La Scala, as well as the Vienna and the Berlin Philharmonic.
He was well-known for his appreciation for “modern” music, as well as classical, and throughout the music world, respected as a man of magnificent tempo. Hailing from a musical family, Abbado was awarded the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. He died in 2014, at age 80.
Leonard Bernstein
Although he died more than twenty years ago, Leonard Bernstein continues to maintain international fame. He was the first American conductor to actually lead an American symphony orchestra, at least, a major one.
Bernstein served as musical director for the New York Philharmonic, as well as conducting several major orchestras across the globe.
Herbert von Karajan
Hailing from one of the great musical capitals of Europe, Salzburg, Herbert von Karajan was, by all accounts, an unusual, yet remarkable conductor. The Austrian virtuoso was so hard-working that the copious amount of rehearsals allowed him to conduct with his eyes closed.
He served as principal conductor for the Berlin Philharmonic for an impressive 34 years, also working with the Vienna Philharmonic, as well as the Berlin State Opera.
Dimitri Mitropoulos
Born in Athens, Greece, in 1896, Dimitri Mitropoulos was a precocious musician. He played the piano, and, it’s said, was organizing musical gatherings with fellow musicians in his early teens. Honing his skill at the Athens Conservatoire, Mitropoulos garnered acclaim as the first musician to conduct an orchestra from the keyboard.
In later life, he settled in the US, and conducted the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, as well as the New York Philharmonic, where he initially co-conducted alongside Stokowski.
Seiji Ozawa
Seiji Ozawa is the first conductor on our list who’s still alive at the time of this writing. As such, he is also the longest living conductor for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, which he served as musical director for 29 years, from 1973 to 2002.
The Japanese conductor (currently 86) was diagnosed with esophagus cancer some years back, which forced him to step back from public life. He is now stable, and has performed publicly, on occasion.
Sir Simon Rattle
The distinguished British conductor was born in Liverpool in 1955, and learned his craft at the Royal Academy of Music. He served as Principal Guest Conductor, a highly coveted position, both for the Rotterdam and Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestras. He also worked as musical director of the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra from 1990 to 1998.
His conducting style has an ephemeral quality to it, and some pieces might even be described as meditation music. Currently aged 66, Sir Simon serves as Musical Director for the London Symphony Orchestra.
Sir Adrian Boult
Sir Adrian Cedric Boult is best-known for having led the BBC Symphony, as well as other important orchestras and philharmonicas, over his six-decade long career. Born in Cheshire, England, in 1889, Boult studied at the Leipzig Conservatory, before returning to his native UK.
Here, he began his career working with the Covent Garden Opera, followed by the Royal Philharmonic. In 1920, he took up a post in the faculty of the Royal College of Music. He had an unusual conducting style, not using his left hand much, which was even the subject of a film, 1971’s “Point of the Stick”.
Otto Klemperer
Otto Klemperer is known as one of the best German conductors of the 20th century. Interestingly enough, his native city of Breslau (where Klemperer was born in 1885) is now actually part of Poland.
As a young man, Klemperer earned the respect of the well-known Gustav Mahler, who recommended him for studies in Berlin and Frankfurt.
As a conductor, he directed the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and then the Budapest Orchestra. Klemperer is well-known for his interpretations of classic symphonies, such as Beethoven’s Fidelio, but also for his original compositions.
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla
Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla is one of the youngest, yet one of the best conductors of the contemporary world. At only 35 years old, the Lithuanian conductor has already made a name for herself, and currently serves as the Musical Director for the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. Having stunned audiences at the Salzburg Festival (where she received the Young Conductors Award), as well as at the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, Gražinytė-Tyla has been on numerous European tours, and has worked as guest conductor all over the world.
Her music is something out of this world, and appeals to audiences both young and old.
Gustavo Dudamel
Speaking of young and precocious conductors, Gustavo Dudamel is also on that list. At only 40 years old, the Venezuelan conductor and violinist is currently Musical Director at the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra in his home country.
He also works with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Opera National de Paris. As a promising youth, Dudamel’s talent caught the eye of prestigious conductors of the time, like Sir Simon Rattle and Claudio Abbado, who acted as guest conductors at the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra.
Dudamel is also well-known for his activism, in the interest of making music accessible to everyone.
Valery Gergiev
Valery Gergiev, born in Moscow in 1953, began studying the piano in secondary school, and thus discovered a deep passion for music. A passion he later nurtured at the Leningrad Conservatory, in the 70s.
Gergiev, who is currently the general director (as well as the artistic director) of the Mariinsky Theatre, is famous internationally as the man who conducts with a toothpick. After being criticized for not using a traditional baton during his concerts, Gergiev took up this unusual practice, which seems to have served him well to this day.
Nadia Boulanger
The renowned French composer was known not only for her work as a musical director, but also for the immense progress she made as a teacher. To this day, Boulanger, who was born in Paris in 1887, is recognized as one of the most important teachers of musical composition of the past century.
Hailing from an impressively musical family (her father taught voice at the Paris Conservatory), Boulanger made history as the first female conductor of the New York, Boston and Philadelphia Philharmonic Orchestras.
Fritz Reiner
Born in 1888 in Budapest, Hungary, Fritz Reiner (nee Reiner Frigyes), like many conductors, had his introduction to music through the piano. He enrolled in the prestigious Franz Liszt Academy of Budapest at the age of 10.
He would later be appointed conductor at the famous Laibach Opera House in Slovenia, as well as the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, and later with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, in the 50s and 60s, until his death in 1963.
See something you like? The Radio Art Classical Music Channels offer an extensive selection of compositions performed by some of the most famous orchestras of the world, under the careful direction of the above composers
