Claudio Abbado, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (Italian: [ˈklaudjo abˈbaːdo]; 26 June 1933 – 20 January 2014) was an Italian conductor. He served as music director of the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, music director of the Vienna State Opera, and principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic orchestra from 1989 to 2002. He was a Senator for life in the Senate of Italy from 2013 to 2014.

Early life

Born in Milan, Italy, Abbado was the son of the violinist and composer Michelangelo Abbado, who was his first piano teacher, and the brother of the musician Marcello Abbado. After studying piano, composition, and conducting at the Milan Conservatory, at age 16, in 1955 Claudio Abbado studied conducting with Hans Swarowsky at the Vienna Academy of Music. He also spent time at the Chigiana Academy at Siena. In 1958 he won the international Serge Koussevitsky Competition for conductors, at theTanglewood Music Festival, which resulted in a number of operatic conducting engagements in Italy, and in 1963 he won theDimitri Mitropoulos Prize for conductors, allowing him to work for five months with the New York Philharmonic.

Career

Abbado made his debut at La Scala in his hometown of Milan in 1960 and served as its music director from 1968 to 1986, conducting not only the traditional Italian repertoire but also presenting a contemporary opera each year, as well as a concert series devoted to the works of Alban Berg and Modest Mussorgsky. He was instrumental in increasing accessibility to the working-class. He also founded the Filarmonica della Scala in 1982, for the performance of orchestral repertoire in concert.

Abbado conducted the Vienna Philharmonic for the first time in 1965 in a concert at the Salzburg Festival, and became the principal conductor in 1971. He served as music director and conductor for the Vienna State Opera from 1986 to 1991, with notable productions such as Mussorgsky's original Boris Godunov and his seldom-heard Khovanshchina, Franz Schubert'sFierrabras, and Gioacchino Rossini's Il viaggio a Reims.

In 1965, Abbado made his British debut at the Halle Orchestra, followed, in 1966, by his London Symphony Orchestra debut. He continued to conduct on a regular basis with the London orchestra, until 1979. From 1979 to 1988 he became the principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, and from 1982 to 1986 he was principal guest conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. With both orchestras, Abbado made a number of recordings for Deutsche Grammophon.

Berlin Philharmonic

In 1989, the Berlin Philharmonic elected Abbado as their chief conductor, to succeed Herbert von Karajan. In 1998, he announced that he would be leaving the Berlin Philharmonic after the expiry of his contract in 2002.

Abbado was diagnosed with stomach cancer in 2000 and the treatment led to the removal of a portion of his digestive system. In 2004 he returned to conduct the Berlin Philharmonic and performed Mahler's Symphony No. 6 in a series of recorded live concerts. The resulting CD won Best Orchestral Recording and Record of the Year in Gramophone Magazine's 2006 awards. The Orchestra Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic established the Claudio Abbado Composition Prize in 2006 in his honour.

Post-Berlin work

After recovering from cancer, Abbado formed the Lucerne Festival Orchestra in 2003, whose concerts were highly acclaimed. He also served as music director of the Orchestra Mozart of Bologna, Italy.

In September 2007, Abbado announced that he was cancelling all of his forthcoming conducting engagements for the "near future" on the advice of his physicians but two months later he resumed conducting with an engagement in Bologna. In July 2011, aged 78, he declared himself to be in good health.

Musical style

Abbado performed and recorded a wide range of Romantic works, in particular Gustav Mahler, whose symphonies he has recorded several times. He is also noted for his interpretations of modern works by composers such as Arnold Schoenberg, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Giacomo Manzoni, Luigi Nono, Bruno Maderna, Thomas Adler, Giovanni Sollima, Roberto Carnevale, Franco Donatoni and George Benjamin.

Abbado desired to become a conductor for the first time as a child, when he heard a performance of Claude Debussy's Nocturnes. He had the opportunity to attend many orchestral rehearsals in Milan led by such conductors as Arturo Toscanini and Wilhelm Furtwängler and has told interviewers that Toscanini's tyrannical and sometimes abusive manner towards musicians in rehearsal repelled him, and that he resolved to behave in the gentler manner of Bruno Walter. Abbado was known to exhibit a friendly, understated, and non-confrontational manner in rehearsal.

In 1988, Abbado founded the music festival Wien Modern, which has since expanded to include all aspects of contemporary art. This interdisciplinary festival took place each year under his direction.

Abbado was also well known for his work with young musicians. He was founder and music director of the European Union Youth Orchestra (1978) and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester (1986). He was also a frequent guest conductor with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe with whom he recorded a cycle of Franz Schubert symphonies to considerable acclaim. More recently, he worked with the Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar of Venezuela. He was also known for his Germanic orchestral repertory as well as his interest in the music of Gioacchino Rossini and Giuseppe Verdi.

Awards

Abbado received many awards and recognitions including the Grand cross of the Légion d'honneur, Bundesverdienstkreuz,Imperial Prize of Japan, Mahler Medal, Khytera Prize, and honorary doctorates from the universities of Ferrara, Cambridge,Aberdeen, and Havana.

In 1973, Abbado won the Mozart Medal awarded by Mozartgemeinde Wien, and the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 1994.

Abbado received the 1997 Grammy Award in the Best Small Ensemble Performance (with or without conductor) category for "Hindemith: Kammermusik No. 1 With Finale 1921, Op. 24 No. 1" and the 2005 Grammy Award in the Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with Orchestra) category for "Beethoven: Piano Concertos Nos. 2 & 3" performed by Martha Argerich.

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

On 30 August 2013, Abbado was appointed to the Italian Senate as a Senator for life by President Giorgio Napolitano for his "outstanding cultural achievements".

Personal life

Abbado's son is the opera director Daniele Abbado. From his relationship with the violinist Viktoria Mullova, he is the father of her oldest child, Misha. His nephew, Roberto Abbado (the son of his brother Marcello, born 1926, who is a composer and pianist), is also a conductor.

Abbado died in Bologna on 20 January 2014.