Lorin mazel biography

Maestro Maazel was also a highly regarded composer, with a wide-ranging catalog of works written primarily over the last 15 years. His first opera, , based on George Orwell’s literary masterpiece, had its world premiere at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden and a sold-out revival at La Scala, Milan.  

During his career, Maestro Maazel served as Artistic Director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin and General Manager of the Vienna State Opera, as Music Director of the Radio Symphony of Berlin, the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, the Pittsburgh Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, and the New York Philharmonic.  In the last year, he maintained an active conducting schedule, leading concerts in alone, from Oman to Munich.  

A true citizen of the world, fluent in seven languages, Maestro Maazel led orchestras and performances around the globe. He viewed music as a bridge-builder. During his career, he worked in East Berlin and the former Soviet Union. In February , he and the New York Philharmonic visited Pyongyang, North Korea, to perform a concert broadcast on North Korean state television, airing live internationally. “I have always believed that the arts, per se, and their exponents, artists, have a broader role to play in the public arena. But it must be totally apolitical, nonpartisan, and free of issue-specific agendas. It is a role of the highest possible order; bringing peoples and their cultures together on common ground, where the roots of peaceful interchange can imperceptibly but irrevocably take hold,” he wrote in the Wall Street Journal in  The North Korean defector singer Ji Hae Nam told CNN's Christiane Amanpour that the concert was: "an opportunity for North Korean people to realize that America is not

French-American conductor (–)

Lorin Varencove Maazel (; March 6, &#;– July 13, ) was an American conductor, violinist and composer. He began conducting at the age of eight and by had decided to pursue a career in music. He had established a reputation in the concert halls of Europe by but his career in the U.S. progressed far more slowly. He served as music director of The Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic, among other posts. Maazel was well regarded in baton technique and had a photographic memory for scores. Described as mercurial and forbidding in rehearsal, he mellowed in old age.

Early life

Maazel was born to American parents of Russian Jewish origin in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France.

His grandfather Isaac Maazel (–), born in Poltava, Ukraine, then in the Russian Empire, was a violinist in the Metropolitan Opera orchestra. He and his wife Esther Glazer (–), originally from Kharkiv, Ukraine, then in the Russian Empire, came to North America in after the birth of their eldest son Marvin (–), who later became a pianist and composer.

Maazel was brought up in the United States, primarily at his parents' home in the city of Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood. His father, Lincoln Maazel (–), was a singer, teacher of voice and piano, and an actor (he co-starred in George A. Romero's horror movie Martin); and his mother, Marion "Marie" Shulman Maazel (–), founded the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Maazel was a child prodigy and had perfect pitch. He had his first conducting lesson at age seven with Vladimir Bakaleinikov, making his debut at age eight, conducting the University of Idaho Orchestra in Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony in Los Angeles in In the same year, he conducted the National High School Orchest