Eliahu Inbal (born 16 February 1936,

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

) is an Israeli conductor. EliahuInbal

Inbal studied

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

at the Israeli Academy of Music and took composition lessons with

Paul Ben-Haim Paul Ben-Haim (or Paul Ben-Chaim, Hebrew: פאול בן חיים) (5 July 1897 – 14 January 1984) was an Israeli composer. Born Paul Frankenburger in Munich, Germany, he studied composition with Friedrich Klose and he was assistant conductor t ...

. Upon hearing him there, Leonard Bernstein endorsed a scholarship for Inbal to study conducting at the

Conservatoire de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

, and he also took courses with

Sergiu Celibidache Sergiu Celibidache (; 14 August 1996) was a Romanian conductor, composer, musical theorist, and teacher. Educated in his native Romania, and later in Paris and Berlin, Celibidache's career in music spanned over five decades, including tenures ...

and

Franco Ferrara Franco Ferrara (Palermo, 4 July 1911Florence, 7 September 1985) was an Italian conductor and teacher. Among his many students are various prominent conductors, including Roberto Abbado, Riccardo Chailly, Andrew Davis and Riccardo Muti. Life and ...

in Hilversum,

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. At

Novara Novara (, Novarese: ) is the capital city of the province of Novara in the Piedmont region in northwest Italy, to the west of Milan. With 101,916 inhabitants (on 1 January 2021), it is the second most populous city in Piedmont after Turin. It i ...

, he won first prize at the 1963 Guido Cantelli conducting competition at the age of 26. Since after that, Eliahu Inbal has enjoyed a career of international renown, conducting leading orchestras around the world

Inbal made most of his early appearances in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

, but a successful British debut in 1965 with the London Philharmonic led to a number of other engagements with British orchestras. He subsequently worked with a number of orchestras throughout Europe and in America, and eventually took joint

British citizenship British nationality law prescribes the conditions under which a person is recognised as being a national of the United Kingdom. The six different classes of British nationality each have varying degrees of civil and political rights, due to the ...

. From 1974 to 1990, he was the principal conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , " Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on it ...

. With them, he was the first to record the original versions of several of Anton Bruckner's symphonies, for which he won the ''Jahrespreis der deutschen Schallplatten-Kritik''. He also has recorded two complete cycles each of the symphonies of Gustav Mahler and Dmitri Shostakovich. From 1984 to 1989, he was chief conductor at La Fenice in

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 bridges. The isla ...

. From 2003 to 2011, he conducted a series of the complete symphonies of Bruckner at the Rheingau Musik Festival with the

WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne The WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne (German: WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln) is a German radio orchestra based in Cologne, where the orchestra mainly performs at two concert halls: the WDR Funkhaus Wallrafplatz and the Kölner Philharmonie. Histo ...

, concluding with the unfinished Ninth Symphony. He was appointed music director of La Fenice in January, 2007. From 2009 to 2012, Inbal served as the chief conductor of the Czech Philharmonic. Inbal also served as the principal conductor of the

Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra The , also known as Tokyō (都響), is one of the representative symphony orchestras of Japan. The Orchestra was founded in 1965 by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, to commemorate the Tokyo Olympics (1964 Summer Olympics). Currently Kazushi ...

from 2008 to 2014, and currently is the Conductor Laureate of the orchestra. In August 2019, Inban began his tenure as the chief conductor of the Taipei Symphony Orchestra with a contract of three years. His contract was extended in April 2022, although he decided in June to leave the orchestra when his original term expired. Inbal has conducted a wide variety of works. He is best known for his interpretations of late-Romantic works, but is also noted as an

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

conductor, and has given the premieres of a number of modern works.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Inbal, Eliahu 1936 births Living people Jewish classical musicians Composers from Jerusalem Conservatoire de Paris alumni Israeli Jews British Jews Jews in Mandatory Palestine Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom 21st-century conductors (music) Israeli emigrants to the United Kingdom Israeli expatriates in the Czech Republic Israeli expatriates in Italy Israeli expatriates in Germany 20th-century Israeli composers Israeli expatriates in Japan Israeli expatriates in Taiwan