Lorin Maazel

Lorin Varencove Maazel (born March 6, 1930) is a conductor, violinist and composer. Maazel was born to Jewish-American parents in Neuilly-sur-Seine in France and brought up in the United States. Raised by a musical family (his grandfather Isaac was a violinist in the Met Orchestra), Maazel was a prodigy, taking his first conducting lesson at age seven and making his debut at age eight. At the age of eleven, he guest conducted the NBC Symphony Orc... more

Lorin Varencove Maazel (born March 6, 1930) is a conductor, violinist and composer. Maazel was born to Jewish-American parents in Neuilly-sur-Seine in France and brought up in the United States. Raised by a musical family (his grandfather Isaac was a violinist in the Met Orchestra), Maazel was a prodigy, taking his first conducting lesson at age seven and making his debut at age eight. At the age of eleven, he guest conducted the NBC Symphony Orchestra on the radio. At twelve he toured America to conduct major orchestras. He made his violin debut at the age of fifteen. He later studied at the University of Pittsburgh. In 1960 he became the first American to conduct at Bayreuth. He was conductor of the Deutsche Oper Berlin from 1965 to 1971 and the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1965 to 1975. In 1972, Maazel began his tenure as music director at the Cleveland Orchestra, succeeding George Szell. Maazel's emotional, rich interpretation of music greatly differed from Szell's... less