Photo credit: Bill Berns
Born in Paris, France in 1930 to American parents, Lorin Maazel came from a musical family (his grandfather played violin in the Metropolitan Opera orchestra) and was clearly a child prodigy in every sense of the term. He studied the violin at age five, began taking conducting lessons two years later, and toured the United States at age 12 to conduct major American orchestras. He entered college at 17, studying languages and mathematics at the University of Pittsburgh while playing violin in the city’s symphony. He also served as the ensemble’s apprentice conductor during its 1949–50 season. Maazel received a Fulbright fellowship to continue his musical studies, which he did in Italy and elsewhere in Europe during the early 1950s. He became the first American to conduct at the Bayreuth Festival [1960], and he led two separate Berlin-based organizations during most of the ensuing decade—the Deutsche Oper (German Opera) from 1965–1971, and the Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1965–1975.
Maazel returned to the States in 1972 to assume the reins of the venerable Cleveland Orchestra, replacing retiring conductor and music director George Szell. He remained there for ten years and continued the work of his predecessor in raising the orchestra’s visibility on the world stage. He left in 1982 for Europe once again, taking a two-year position with the Vienna State Opera as its general manager and chief conductor. In the 1980s he returned to his undergraduate stomping grounds as a musical consultant to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, eventually becoming its music director from 1988–1996. A guest conducting stint with the New York Philharmonic in 2000 was so well received by the orchestra’s members and patrons that he was named that ensemble’s music director following the retirement of Kurt Masur; he held this post until 2009. One of Maazel’s achievements with the Philharmonic was leading their groundbreaking tour to North Korea in 2008.
Lorin Maazel has also composed a number of musical works, including a cello concerto for Mstislav Rostropovich, a flute concerto for James Galway, and the opera 1984 (based upon the Orwell novel) that received its premiere at London’s Covent Garden in 2005. His most notable recordings as a conductor include the Prokofiev ballet Romeo and Juliet with the Cleveland Orchestra [Decca], Rachmaninoff’s three symphonies with the Berlin Philharmonic [DG], and Andrew Lloyd Weber’s Variations with the London Philharmonic [Philips].
Maazel discusses his recent trip to North Korea with the New York Philharmonic:
[...] music, such as Rafael Kubelik [1955-58], George Solti [1961- 1], and Colin Davis [1971-87]. Maestro Lorin Maazel saw his opera, 1984, debuted in this [...]