Julius Rudel (6 March 1921 – 26 June 2014) was an Austrian-born

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

opera and

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

conductor. He was born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

and was a student at the city's Academy of Music. He emigrated to the United States at the age of 17 in 1938 after the country was annexed by Germany. He studied conducting at the

Mannes College of Music Mannes School of Music is a music conservatory in The New School, a private research university in New York City. In the fall of 2015, Mannes moved from its previous location on Manhattan's Upper West Side to join the rest of the New School ca ...

in New York City. After completing his music studies, he joined the

New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through 2013 (when it filed for bankruptcy), and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, du ...

. He died on 26 June 2014 at the age of 93.

Professional career

New York City Opera After 1944, he began a 35-year career with that company which continued until 1979. After rising to Principal Conductor and General Director in 1957, he brought the company international acclaim with his innovative programming (including three seasons of all-American operas in 1958, 1959, and 1960), and formed a partnership with

Beverly Sills Beverly Sills (May 25, 1929July 2, 2007) was an American operatic soprano whose peak career was between the 1950s and 1970s. Although she sang a repertoire from Handel and Mozart to Puccini, Massenet and Verdi, she was especially renowned f ...

, who became the leading soprano of the NYCO. He led the company to its new home at the

New York State Theater The David H. Koch Theater is a theater for ballet, modern and other forms of dance, part of the Lincoln Center, at the intersection of Columbus Avenue and 63rd Street in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. Originally ...

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...

, where it opened in February 1966 with Alberto Ginastera's ''

Don Rodrigo ''Don Rodrigo'' is an opera in three acts by Alberto Ginastera, the composer's first opera, to an original Spanish libretto by Alejandro Casona. Ginastera composed the opera on commission from the Municipality of the City of Buenos Aires, Argent ...

'', in which he cast an unknown 25-year-old tenor,

Plácido Domingo José Plácido Domingo Embil (born 21 January 1941) is a Spanish opera singer, conductor, and arts administrator. He has recorded over a hundred complete operas and is well known for his versatility, regularly performing in Italian, French ...

. Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra In 1979, he accepted the position of Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, succeeding

Michael Tilson Thomas Michael Tilson Thomas (born December 21, 1944) is an American conductor, pianist and composer. He is Artistic Director Laureate of the New World Symphony, an American orchestral academy based in Miami Beach, Florida, Music Director Laureate of ...

, and led that orchestra through the 1985 season. Other positions Rudel conducted major orchestras and operas throughout the world. Between 1958 and 1963 he conducted frequently for the

Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company The Philadelphia Lyric Opera Company was an American opera company located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that was active between 1958 and 1974. The company was led by a number of Artistic Directors during its history, beginning with Aurelio Fabiani ...

, also serving as the company's Artistic Director for part of that time. In 1978, he first conducted at the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...

, making his debut with ''

Werther ''Werther'' is an opera (''drame lyrique'') in four acts by Jules Massenet to a French libretto by Édouard Blau, Paul Milliet and Georges Hartmann (who used the pseudonym Henri Grémont). It is loosely based on Goethe's epistolary novel '' Th ...

''. He also won a

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pr ...

. He was the first Music Director of both Washington's

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

and the

Wolf Trap Opera Company The Wolf Trap Opera Company (sometimes abbreviated WTOC) was founded in 1971 as part of the program of the Wolf Trap Foundation located near the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Fairfax County, Virginia. The company is a residen ...

, and from 1962 to 1976 he was Music Director of the

Caramoor Festival The Caramoor Summer Music Festival is a music festival founded in 1945 that is held on the estate of the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, which includes a Mediterranean-style stucco villa and is located about north of New York City in Ka ...

. He was a National Patron of

Delta Omicron Delta Omicron () is a co-ed international professional music honors fraternity whose mission is to promote and support excellence in music and musicianship. History Delta Omicron International Music Fraternity was founded on September 6, 1909 at ...

, an international professional music fraternity. In 2009 he was honored by the US

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the federal ...

for his many contributions to opera. He died in Manhattan on 26 June 2014.

Recordings

Audio * Floyd: ''The Sojourner and Mollie Sinclair'' (Neway, Treigle; 1963) iveVAI * Handel: ''Giulio Cesare'' (Sills, Wolff, Forrester, Treigle; 1967) RCA Victor * Ginastera: ''Bomarzo'' (Novoa; 1967) Columbia Records * Massenet: ''Manon'' (Sills, Gedda, Souzay, Bacquier; 1970)

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

* Offenbach: ''Les contes d'Hoffmann'' (Sills, Marsee, Burrows, Treigle; 1972) Westminster * Donizetti: ''Anna Bolena'' (Sills, Verrett, Burrows, Plishka; 1972) Westminster * Bellini: ''I puritani'' (Sills, Gedda, L.Quilico, Plishka; 1973) Westminster * Boito: ''Mefistofele'' (Caballé, Domingo, Treigle; 1973)

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

* Massenet: ''Thaïs'' (Moffo, Carreras, Bacquier, Díaz; 1974) RCA * Charpentier: ''Louise'' (Sills, Gedda, van Dam; 1977) EMI * Lehár: ''Die lustige Witwe'': excerpts (Sills, H.Price, Titus; 1978) EMI * Massenet: ''Cendrillon'' (Welting, von Stade, Gedda; 1978) CBS * Verdi: ''Rigoletto'' (Sills, Kraus, Milnes, Ramey; 1978) EMI * Weill: ''Der Silbersee'' (Grey; 1980) Nonesuch Video * Donizetti: ''Roberto Devereux'' (Sills, Marsee, J.Alexander, Fredricks; Capobianco, 1975) iveVAI * Verdi: ''La traviata'' (Sills, H.Price, Fredricks; Capobianco, 1976) iveVAI * Massenet: ''Manon'' (Sills, H.Price, Fredricks, Ramey; Capobianco, 1977) iveParamount * Saint-Saëns: ''Samson et Dalila'' (Verrett, Domingo, Brendel; Joël, 1981) iveKultur * Giordano: ''Andrea Chénier'' (Tomowa-Sintow, Domingo, Zancanaro; Hampe, 1985) iveKultur

References

Notes Sources *Morgan, Brian (2006), ''Strange Child of Chaos: Norman Treigle'' iUniverse, 2006. *Rudel, Julius; Rebecca Paller (2013), ''First and Lasting Impressions: Julius Rudel Looks Back on a Life in Music''. University of Rochester Press.

External links

* * Duffie, Bruce
Interview with Julius Rudel
1 November 1982 (Published in the "Massenet Newsletter" in July 1983)
National Endowment for the Arts Opera Honors, 2009: Julius Rudel
on nea.gov/honors

* Stevenson, John, Artist Biography on allmusic.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Rudel, Julius 1921 births 2014 deaths American conductors (music) American male conductors (music) Jewish emigrants from Austria to the United States after the Anschluss Jewish American musicians Jewish classical musicians Grammy Award winners Mannes School of Music alumni Musicians from Vienna 21st-century American Jews

Professional career

Recordings

See also

References

External links