Maestros

Gramophone magazine's June issue identifies ten young conductors "on the verge of greatness."  Among them are some conductors whose recordings we have in our collection.  They are:  Edward Gardner, age 36, English National Opera; Jakub Hrusa, age 29, Prague Philharmonia; Andris Nelsons, age 32, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra; Yannick Nezet-Seguin, age 36, Philadelphia Orchestra (Director Designate); and  Vasily Petrenko, age 34, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic.  If you're wondering why Gustavo Dudamel (age 30, Los Angeles Philharmonic) isn't included in Gramophone's list, it's because Gramophone identified him in 2006 as one of "Tomorrow's Classical Superstars," and he is now already considered to be a superstar.  Here is a list from the Library's collection of recordings by these young maestros:  Promising Young Maestros: Recordings.

If you're interested in the lives and development of great conductors, you might want to look at the biographies on this list:  Conducting and Conductors.  Included on the list are a couple novels and a feature film with conductors as characters. 

And here's a little matching quiz about some great conductors - most from the past - with facts taken from Baker's Biographical Dictionary of Musicians, which can be found in the Library's reference collection.

1. Leonard Bernstein     a. started CSO Chorus in 1957
2. Sarah Caldwell         b. assistant conductor to Gustav Mahler
3. Margaret Hillis          c. Chicago Symphony Orchestra, 1969-1991
4. Herbert Von Karajan  d. 1st woman to conduct at the Met
5. Riccardo Muti           e."Young People's Concerts" in 1958
6. Sir Georg Solti          f. Berlin Philharmonic from 1954-1989 
7. Bruno Walter            g. born in Naples in 1941

Answers: 1(e), 2(d), 3(a), 4(f), 5(g), 6(c), 7(b)