The American conductor, composer and violinist Lorin Maazel was born in France in 1930 where he was a child prodigy making his performing debut at the age of eight. His parents emigrated to Pittsburgh, USA and Maazel's formative years were spent in that region.

At the age of 20 Maazel was engaged as a conductor with the Gershwin Concert Orchestra and he rapidly became a prominent figure within classical music in Europe. By comparison, his career in America developed at a more leisurely pace and it wasn't until later when he was appointed music director of the Cleveland Orchestra and then later the New York Philharmonic that he began to garner the recognition he deserved in his adopted homeland.

Maazel enjoyed an incredibly varied career and his recording catalogue extended to over 300 works by composers such as Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler, Schubert and Richard Strauss. He also conducted the music for three operatic films - 'Don Giovanni' (1979), 'Carmen' (1984) and 'Otello' (1986). Professionally he had a reputation as a hard taskmaster and could be notoriously demanding during rehearsals, a characteristic which mellowed over the years. He died at his estate in Virginia in 2014, aged 84.

Lorin Maazel

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