Conductor Lorin Maazel dies
July 13, 2014
Lorin Maazel died Sunday at his home at Castleton Farms in the US state of Virginia from complications following pneumonia. He was 84.
The announcement was made in a statement by the annual Castleton Festival, which Maazel founded. The death was also announced on Maazel's official website.
Born in Paris on March 6, 1930, Maazel was a second-generation American and took his first violin lesson at age 5. As a child prodigy, he made his first public performance at the age of 8.
Over the years, he conducted more than 150 orchestras in some 5,000 opera and concert performances. He served as general manager and artistic director at the Vienna State Opera and conducted the Bayreuth Festival in Germany, the first American to do so in both cases. He also served at the Radio Symphony of Berlin, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Munich Philharmonic.
In 2002 he was chosen to replace Kurt Masur as music director of the New York Philharmonic - the oldest orchestra in the United States. Maazel served there for seven years. It was with the New York Philharmonic that he visited North Korea in 2008.
Maazel was also a composer, but to lesser acclaim. His first opera, "1984," was based on George Orwell's novel.
Maazal is survived by his wife, Dietlinde Turban Maazel, and by four daughters, three sons and four grandchildren.
hc/mkg (AFP, AP, dpa)