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Claudio Abbado was an Italian conductor who was one of the leading conductors of his generation. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera, founder and director of the Luce…
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politics · Italian conductor (1933–2014) · conductor · politician · pianist · music director · composer · musician · also Claudio Abbado, Abbado
Born 26 June 1933 · Died 20 January 2014 · Q151608
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I knew that you could get better music in a better way with this way of listening. You know, in America, there are wonderful orchestras everywhere, but I never accepted a position there, because I can
85%The GuardianSource
“s Three Nocturnes at La Scala, in his home town, that he decided to become a conductor. He was seven years old at the time. Twenty-five years later, he made his debut there, leading a performance of Mahler”
“I knew that you could get better music in a better way with this way of listening. You know, in America, there are wonderful orchestras everywhere, but I never accepted a position there, because I can”
“whether with the London Symphony Orchestra, when I was with them, or with the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, or the Berlin or Vienna Philharmonic. The acoustic may not be the best, but when the Royal Albert Hall is full, there is a unique atmosphere. It”
“...it is indispensable to know the score perfectly and be familiar with the life, the works and the entire era of the composer. I feel more secure without a score. Communication with the orchestra is easier.”
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“...he basically doesn't say anything in rehearsals, and speaks so quietly, because he's so shy, so people can get bored. But it works because everyone knows the performances are so great. I've never known anybody more compelling. He's the most natural conductor in the world. Some conductors need to verbally articulate what they want through words, but Claudio just shows it, just does it.”
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Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Claudio Abbado
Under Riccardo Chailly as a tribute to Abbado
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The Guardian: Gramophone awards honour Claudio Abbado with one final prize
Awarded Gramophone Award for Recording of the Year (2015).
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The Guardian: Bruckner: Symphony No 9 review – Claudio Abbado's great last testament
The Guardian: Claudio Abbado: the Complete RCA and Sony Album Collection review - imaginative and intellectual curiosity
The Guardian: Claudio Abbado memorial concert review – 'in his absence he could not have felt more present'
The Guardian: Daniel Barenboim leads La Scala's last tribute to Claudio Abbado
The Guardian: The best of Claudio Abbado on YouTube
The Independent: Claudio Abbado dies aged 80: An appreciation of the late conductor
The Daily Telegraph: Claudio Abbado's death marks the end of an era
The Guardian: Claudio Abbado: 'one of the greatest musicians of the past 50 years'
The Guardian: Simon Rattle on Claudio Abbado: 'He said "I feel I hear from the inside of my body'"
The Guardian: 'He was one of the greatest of our time': Mariss Jansons pays tribute to Claudio Abbado
The Guardian: Claudio Abbado obituary
Yahoo: Conductor Claudio Abbado dies at 80
Died 2014-01-20.
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Career landmark: Italian senator for life (2013–2014).
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Awarded Gramophone Award for Lifetime Achievement (2012).
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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
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Was issued as part of a Berliner Philharmoniker Mahler set in 2020
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Awarded Echo Klassik – Conductor of the Year (2005).
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Won Ernst Reuter Medal (2004).
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Abbado returned to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic for the first time since his departure as chief conductor, for concerts of Mahler's Symphony No
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Awarded honorary doctor of the University of Basilicata (2003).
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Won Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal (2003).
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Awarded Praemium Imperiale (2003).
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Awarded Echo Klassik – Conductor of the Year (2002).
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Awarded Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (2002).
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Which led to his cancellation of a number of engagements with the orchestra
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Announced his departure from the Berlin Philharmonic after the expiration of his contract in 2002
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Awarded Ernst von Siemens Music Prize (1994).
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Became artistic director of the Salzburg Easter Festival
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Co-founded 'Berlin Encounters', a chamber music festival
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Released album “Symphonien Nrs. 1 & 2”.
The Berlin Philharmonic elected him as its chief conductor and artistic director, in succession to Herbert von Karajan
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Released album “Overtures”.
Released album “Piano Concertos / Menuet antique / Le Tombeau de Couperin / Fanfare”.
Released album “Symphonie No. 6 / Rückert-Lieder”.
Released album “L’Arlésienne-Suiten 1 & 2 / Carmen-Suite”.
Released album “Messe Es-Dur, D 950”.
Released album “Ouvertüren”.
Released album “Violinkonzert / Akademische Festouvertüre”.
Released album “Schubert - Symphonies Nos. 4 & 8”.
Released album “L'Oiseau de feu (Suite) / Petrouchka / Pulcinella (Auszüge)”.
Released album “Symphony no. 4 / Romeo and Juliet”.
Released album “Pulcinella / Jeu de cartes”.
Released album “Pulcinella; Jeu de Cartes”.
Released album “Double Concerto / Piano Quartet, op. 60”.
Released album “Lulu-Suite / Altenberg-Lieder / 3 Orchesterstücke”.
Released album “Symphonies Nos. 2, 5”.
Released album “8 Symphonien”.
Released album “Neujahrskonzert 1988”.
Founded the music festival Wien Modern
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Released album “Symphony No. 6 Op. 68 "Pastoral", Choral Fantasy Op. 80 etc.”.
Released album “Piano Concerto nos. 25 & 27”.
Released album “Klavierkonzert Nr. 2”.
Released album “Der Feuervogel (Suite) / Le Sacre du Printemps”.
Released album “Symphonie Nr. 40 / Symphonie Nr. 41 "Jupiter"”.
Released album “Klavierkonzerte Nr. 20 & 21”.
Released album “Symphony no. 6 "Pathetique"; Marche Slave”.
Released album “Mendelssohn, Bruch: Violinkonzerte / Kreisler: Caprice viennois / Liebesleid / Liebesfreud”.
Released album “Symphony No. 9”.
Released album “Symphony No. 6 "Pathetique" / Marche Slave”.
Released album “La damoiselle élue / Iberia / Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune”.
Released album “Symphonien Nr. 5 & 7”.
Released album “Symphonie No. 3 "Eroica" / Coriolan Ouvertüre”.
Released album “Klavierkonzerte nos. 18 & 24”.
Released album “Boléro / Rapsodie espagnole / Ma mère l’Oye / Pavane”.
Released album “Symphonien 4 & 5”.
Released album “Klavierkonzert no. 1”.
Released album “Requiem”.
Released album “Mussorgsky orch. Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition / Stravinsky: Pétrouchka”.
Released album “Simon Boccanegra”.
Released album “Alexander Nevsky / Lieutenant Kijé”.
Released album “Piano Concerto no. 1”.
Released album “Symphony no. 5, op. 64 / Voyevode, op. 78”.
Abbado became the Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) of the city of Vienna, and in parallel, was music director of the Vienna State Opera from 1986 to 1991
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Released album “Don Carlos”.
Released album “5 Symphonien / Ouvertüren”.
Released album “Aida: Highlights”.
Released album “Piano Concertos nos. 9 & 17”.
Released album “Stabat Mater”.
Released album “Symphonien: No. 3 »Schottische · Scottish · Écossaise« / No. 4 »Italienische · Italian · Italienne«”.
Released album “Symphonie No. 2 "Lobgesang"”.
Released album “Le Sacre du Printemps”.
Released album “Symphonien Nos. 1 & 5 "Reformation"”.
Released album “Symphonien no. 3 "Scottish" / no. 5 "Reformation"”.
Released album “Macbeth”.
Released album “Symphonie No. 3”.
Awarded Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (1984).
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Released album “Piano Concertos nos. 25 & 19”.
Released album “Klavierkonzerte nos. 27 & 8”.
Released album “Symphonie No. 4”.
Released album “The Violin Concertos”.
Released album “Rossini Ouvertures”.
Released album “Symphonie fantastique”.
Released album “Opernchöre”.
Released album “Symphonie no. 7”.
Released album “Don Juan, op. 20 / Till Eulenspiegel, op. 28 / Death and Transfiguration, op. 24”.
Released album “Klavierkonzert no. 2 / Polonaise op. 44”.
Released album “Piano Concertos no. 21 & 23”.
Released album “Verdi Ouvertures”.
Released album “Aida”.
Released album “Serenade no. 1”.
Released album “Klavierkonzerte nos. 20 & 12”.
Released album “Te Deum”.
Released album “Symphony No. 3”.
Released album “Symphonie no. 1”.
Released album “21 Ungarische Tänze (Hungarian Dances)”.
Founded the Filarmonica della Scala for the performance of orchestral repertoire by the house orchestra in concert
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Released album “Le quattro stagioni”.
Released album “Pétrouchka”.
Released album “Klavierkonzert Op. 54 / Konzertstück Op. 79”.
Released album “Alexander Nevsky”.
Released album “Pulcinella”.
Released album “Carmen: Extraits”.
Released album “Carmen”.
And the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester (GMJO; Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra) in (1988)
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Released album “Lieutenant Kijé / Scythian Suite”.
Released album “CBS Great Performances, Volume 72: Piano Concerto no. 3”.
Brought the La Scala company to the US for its American debut in Washington, D
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Released album “The Firebird / Jeu de cartes”.
Released album “Opernchöre · Opera Choruses · Choeurs d’opéra”.
Released album “Violin Concertos”.
The Vienna Mozart Society awarded him the Mozart Medal
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Released album “Il barbiere di Siviglia”.
Released album “La Cenerentola”.
Released album “Rossini Overtures”.
Released album “Great Scenes from Verdi”.
Released album “3 Nocturnes / Daphnis et Chloé / Pavane”.
Released album “'Rinaldo' / 'Schicksalslied' (Song Of Destiny)”.
Released album “Janáček: Sinfonietta / Hindemith: Symphonic Metamorphoses”.
Abbado became the principal conductor at La Scala
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Released album “Symphonies Nos. 3 "Scottish" & 4 "Italian"”.
Released album “Serenade Nr. 2 A-dur Op. 16 ∙ Akademische Fest-Ouvertüre Op. 80”.
Was presented with the Deutscher Schallplattenpreis and also the Dutch Edison Award
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Released album “Chopin: Piano Concerto no. 1 / Liszt: Piano Concerto no. 1”.
Released album “Prokofiev: Klavierkonzert Nr. 3 C-Dur / Ravel: Klavierkonzert G-Dur”.
Released album “Movements from Romeo & Juliet and Chout”.
And 1967; also in 1967 he received the Grand Prix du Disque
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Released album “Symphony no. 7 / Prometheus Overture”.
Abbado made his British debut with the Hallé Orchestra, followed in 1966 by his London Symphony Orchestra (LSO) debut
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Won the Dimitri Mitropoulos Prize for conductors, which allowed him to work for five months with the New York Philharmonic as an assistant conductor to Bernstein
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Conducted his first opera, The Love for Three Oranges, in Trieste
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Abbado made his conducting debut in Trieste
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To singer Giovanna Cavazzoni, Abbado had two children: Daniele Abbado (born 1958), who became an opera director and Alessandra (born 1959)
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Born 1933-06-26.
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...he basically doesn't say anything in rehearsals, and speaks so quietly, because he's so shy, so people can get bored. But it works because everyone knows the performances are so great. I've never known anybody more compelling. He's the most natural conductor in the world. Some conductors need to verbally articulate what they want through words, but Claudio just shows it, just does it.
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