35 Facts About Claudio Abbado

Claudio Abbado's great-grandfather tarnished the family's reputation by gambling away the family fortune.

Claudio Abbado re-established the family's reputation and showed talent as an amateur musician.

Claudio Abbado's mother, Maria Carmela Savagnone, was an adept pianist.

Marcello Claudio Abbado later became a concert pianist, composer, and teacher at the Rossini Conservatory in Pesaro.

Claudio Abbado's sister exhibited talent in music but did not pursue a musical career after her marriage.

Claudio Abbado himself is known for having a famous anecdote about how when he was just eleven years old he wrote "Viva Bartok" on a local wall which caught the attention of the Gestapo and sent them on the hunt for the culprit.

Claudio Abbado later recalled how he hated seeing Toscanini in rehearsal.

At age 15, Claudio Abbado first met Leonard Bernstein when Bernstein was conducting a performance featuring Claudio Abbado's father as a soloist.

Claudio Abbado studied piano, composition, and conducting at the Milan Conservatory, and graduated with a degree in piano in 1955.

Claudio Abbado spent time at the Chigiana Academy in Siena.

Claudio Abbado made his La Scala conducting debut in 1960.

Claudio Abbado made his New York Philharmonic professional conducting debut on 7 April 1963.

In 1965, Claudio Abbado made his British debut with the Halle Orchestra, followed in 1966 by his London Symphony Orchestra debut.

Claudio Abbado taught chamber music for three years during the early 1960s in Parma.

In 1969, Claudio Abbado became the principal conductor at La Scala.

Claudio Abbado took the title of joint artistic director, along with Giorgio Strehler and Carlo Maria Badini, in 1976.

On 7 October 1968, Claudio Abbado made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera with Don Carlo.

Claudio Abbado began to work more extensively with the Vienna Philharmonic after 1971, which included two engagements as conductor of the orchestra's New Year's Day concert, in 1988 and 1991.

Claudio Abbado was a recipient of both the Philharmonic Ring and the Golden Nicolai Medal from the Vienna Philharmonic.

Claudio Abbado served as Principal Guest Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from 1975 to 1979 and became its Principal Conductor in 1979, a post he held until 1987.

In 1986, Claudio Abbado became the Generalmusikdirektor of the city of Vienna, and in parallel, was music director of the Vienna State Opera from 1986 to 1991.

In 2004, Claudio Abbado returned to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic for the first time since his departure as chief conductor, for concerts of Mahler's Symphony No 6 recorded live for commercial release.

Claudio Abbado worked with both these ensembles regularly as well and was artistic advisor to the COE, though he did not hold a formal title with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra.

From 2004 until his death, Claudio Abbado was the musical and artistic director of the Orchestra Mozart, Bologna, Italy.

Claudio Abbado died from stomach cancer in Bologna on 20 January 2014 at the age of 80.

Claudio Abbado's mortal remains were cremated and an urn with a part of his ashes was buried at the cemetery of the 15th-century chapel of Fex-Crasta in the Val Fex.

From his second marriage, to Gabriella Cantalupi, Claudio Abbado had a son, Sebastiano.

Amongst a wide range of Romantic works which he recorded and performed, Claudio Abbado had a particular affinity with the music of Gustav Mahler, whose symphonies he recorded several times.

Claudio Abbado tended to speak very little in rehearsal, sometimes using the simple request to orchestras to "Listen".

In performance, Claudio Abbado often conducted from memory, as he himself noted:.

Claudio Abbado recorded extensively for a variety of labels, including Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, Columbia, and EMI.

Claudio Abbado conducted many opera recordings which received various awards.

In 2012, Claudio Abbado was voted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame that April, and in May, he received the conductor prize at the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards.

Claudio Abbado received honorary doctorates from the universities of Ferrara, Cambridge, Aberdeen and Havana.

Claudio Abbado became a member of the Public Education and Cultural Heritage Commission of the Italian Senate on 25 September 2013.