Biography
Lorin Varencove Maazel (March 6, 1930 – July 13, 2014) was an American conductor, violinist, and composer. He started conducting at age eight and decided to pursue music professionally by 1953. By 1960, he had gained recognition in European concert halls, though his career in the United States advanced more gradually. Maazel held music director positions with The Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre National de France, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, and the New York Philharmonic, among others. Renowned for his baton technique and photographic memory for scores, he was known to be mercurial and stern during rehearsals but softened with age.
Born in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, to American parents of Russian Jewish descent, Maazel's grandfather, Isaac Maazel (1873–1925), originally from Poltava, Ukraine (then part of the Russian Empire), was the first violinist at the Metropolitan Opera for twenty years. Isaac and his wife, Esther Glazer (1879–1921), from Kharkiv, Ukraine, immigrated to the United States in 1900 after the birth of their eldest son, Marvin (1899–1988), who later became a pianist and composer.
Maazel was raised primarily in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighborhood. His father, Lincoln Maazel (1903–2009), was a singer, voice and piano teacher, and actor, known for co-starring in George A. Romero's 1978 horror film Martin. His mother, Marion "Marie" Shulman Maazel (1894–1992), founded the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra. Isaac Maazel's role as a violinist in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra for two decades was part of the family's rich musical heritage.
A child prodigy with perfect pitch, Maazel had his first conducting lesson at seven with Vladimir Bakaleinikov and made his conducting debut at eight, leading the University of Idaho Orchestra in Schubert's "Unfinished" Symphony in Los Angeles in 1938. That year, he also conducted the National High School Orchestra at the National Music Camp in Interlochen, Michigan. The following year, he led 11 concerts by the same orchestra at the New York World’s Fair. At eleven, he guest-conducted the NBC Symphony Orchestra on radio, and at twelve, he toured the U.S. conducting major orchestras. He debuted as a violinist at fifteen. His education included attendance at the Fanny Edel Falk Laboratory School at the University of Pittsburgh, Peabody High School, and the University of Pittsburgh. In 1945, he briefly studied under Pierre Monteux.
During the early 1950s, Maazel toured as conductor of the Gershwin Concert Orchestra, a 25-member ensemble featuring notable soloists. Organized in cooperation with Ira Gershwin, the orchestra presented comprehensive Gershwin programs, with soloists such as Jesús María Sanromá, Carolyn Long, and Theodor Uppman.
In 1960, Maazel became the first American to conduct at the Bayreuth Festspielhaus. He served as chief conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 1965 to 1971 and led the Radio-Symphonie-Orchester (RSO) Berlin from 1964 to 1975.
