32 Facts About Lorin Maazel

Lorin Varencove Maazel was an American conductor, violinist and composer.

Lorin Maazel began conducting at the age of eight and by 1953 had decided to pursue a career in music.

Lorin Maazel had established a reputation in the concert halls of Europe by 1960 but, by comparison, his career in the U S progressed far more slowly.

Lorin Maazel 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.

Lorin Maazel was well-regarded in baton technique and possessed a photographic memory for scores.

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

Lorin Maazel's grandfather Isaac Maazel, born in Poltava, Ukraine, then in the Russian Empire, for two decades was the first violinist in the Metropolitan Opera; he and his wife Esther Glazer, originally from Kharkiv, Ukraine, then in the Russian Empire, came to America in 1900 after the birth of their eldest son Marvin, who later became a pianist and composer.

Lorin Maazel was brought up in the United States, primarily at his parents' home in the city of Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood.

Lorin Maazel's father, Lincoln Maazel, was a singer, teacher of voice and piano, and an actor ; and his mother, Marion "Marie" Shulman Maazel, founded the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra.

Lorin Maazel's grandfather Isaac was a violinist in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for twenty years.

Lorin Maazel 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 1938.

Lorin Maazel attended the Fanny Edel Falk Laboratory School at the University of Pittsburgh as a child, followed by Peabody High School and the University of Pittsburgh.

In 1960, Lorin Maazel became the first American to conduct at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.

Lorin Maazel was chief conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 1965 to 1971 and the Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin from 1964 to 1975.

Lorin Maazel conducted a selection of pieces that included the overture from Wagner's opera Rienzi and Schubert's “Unfinished” symphony, and his orchestra featured 14-year-old prodigy Patricia Travers on violin.

Shortly after Lorin Maazel was named to the post in Cleveland, though, his status was buoyed by both an endorsement from Philadelphia Orchestra music director Eugene Ormandy and the promise of a recording contract with Decca Records.

Lorin Maazel envisioned an annual concert at Public Hall where the chorus would be made up of area students.

From 1982 to 1984, Lorin Maazel served at the Vienna State Opera as general manager and principal conductor.

From 1984 to 1988, Lorin Maazel was the music consultant to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, and its music director from 1988 to 1996.

Lorin Maazel claimed that his decision was because he was concerned for the orchestra's well-being.

In 2000, Lorin Maazel made a guest-conducting appearance with the New York Philharmonic in two weeks of subscription concerts after an absence of over twenty years, which met with positive reaction from the orchestra musicians.

Lorin Maazel led the orchestra in renditions of the North Korean and United States national anthems, Dvorak's New World Symphony, George Gershwin's An American in Paris, and closed with the traditional Korean folk song "Arirang".

In 2004, Lorin Maazel became the music director of the Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic.

Early in 2014, Lorin Maazel cancelled concert engagements as a result of ill health.

Lorin Maazel conducted the music for three operatic films, Don Giovanni, Carmen and Otello .

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Lorin Maazel was depicted conducting Vienna's New Year concert on an Austrian postage stamp issued in 2005.

Lorin Maazel arranged Wagner's Ring Cycle into a 70-minute suite, The 'Ring' Without Words, which he recorded in 1987 with the Berlin Philharmonic.

Lorin Maazel's catalogue contained over 300 recordings of works by Beethoven, Brahms, Mahler, Schubert, Richard Strauss and others.

Lorin Maazel was survived by his daughters Anjali Maazel and Daria Maazel Steketee; son Ilann Maazel and daughter Fiona Maazel; his wife, Dietlinde Turban Maazel, their sons Orson and Leslie, and their daughter Tara, and four grandchildren, Kiran, Owen, Calypso, and Sahara.

Lorin Maazel was a Commander of the Legion d'honneur of the French Republic and of the Finnish Order of the Lion.

Lorin Maazel was decorated with the Bundesverdienstkreuz of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Lorin Maazel received the Italian Premio Abbiati and was an Honorary Life Member of the Israel Philharmonic.