Claudio Abbado was born into a family of musicians in Milan. He studied piano, conducting, and composition at the Milan Conservatory. After obtain- ing his degree, he continued studies with Hans Swarowsky at the Vienna Music Academy. He won the Kousse-vitzky Prize in Tanglewood in 1958 and received first prize at the Mitropoulos Competition in New York in 1963, which earned him the position of assistant to Leonard Bernstein. In 1965 Herbert von Karajan invited Abbado to the Salzburg Festival, where he conducted the Vienna Philharmonic; in the following year, he made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic. From 1968 to 1986, Abbado was musical director of La Scala in Milan, where he established his reputation as an innovator keen to promote contemporary music and director’s theater. He also became widely acclaimed for opening up the venue to a more-diverse audience. During his time at La Scala, Abbado’s international career also flourished. He was Chief Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra from 1979 to 1988, directed the Vienna State Opera for five years starting in 1986, was appointed by the Berlin Philharmonic in 1989 to serve as its head, and was entrusted by the orchestra with leadership of the Salzburg Easter Festival in 1994. After leaving Berlin in 2002, Abbado formed the LUCERNE FESTIVAL ORCHESTRA, which has performed at LUCERNE FESTIVAL annually since 2003. The encouragement of emerging musical talent is a cause close to Abbado’s heart. In 1978 he was one of the founders of the European Community Youth Orchestra and later helped to establish the Chamber Orchestra of Europe. In 1986 he launched the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and, in 2004, the Orchestra Mozart. Among the numerous distinctions Abbado has received are the Siemens Music Prize (1994), the Praemium Imperiale (2003), and the Wolf Prize (2008).
LUCERNE FESTIVAL (IMF) debut on 20 August 1966 with the Swiss Festival Orchestra in works by Hindemith, Sibelius, and Mendelssohn.
March 2012