Julius Rudel

Julius Rudel (6 March 1921 – 26 June 2014) was an Austrian-born American opera and orchestra conductor. He was born in Vienna 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 in New York City. After completing his music studies, he joined the New York City Opera. He died on 26 June 2014 at the age of 93.

{{ external media | float = right|width=200px |audio1 = You may hear Julius Rudel with Jorge Bolet and the Lewisohn Stadium Symphony Orchestra of New York in:
Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30
Mozart's Symphony No. 35 in D major K. 385 ("The Hoffner")
Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition in 1957
[https://www.wnyc.org/series/lewisohn-stadium-concert/2 Here on wnyc.org]}}

Career

After 1944, Rudel began a 35-year career with the New York City Opera that 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, who became the leading soprano of the NYCO. He led the company to its new home at the New York State Theater in Lincoln Center, where it opened in February 1966 with Alberto Ginastera's Don Rodrigo, in which he cast an unknown 25-year-old tenor, Plácido Domingo.{{cite news|last1=Schonberg|first1=Harold C.|title=City Opera Company Sparkles in its Rich New Setting|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1966/02/23/83527445.pdf|access-date=27 June 2014|work=The New York Times|date=23 February 1966}}

In 1953, he conducted the Naumburg Orchestral Concerts, in the Naumburg Bandshell, Central Park, in the summer series.{{Cite web |title=Notable Events and Performers |url=https://naumburgconcerts.org/notable-events-and-performers |access-date=2025-02-23 |website=Naumburg Orchestral Concerts |language=en-US}}

Rudel was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.[http://delta-omicron.org/index00.html Delta Omicron] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100127130549/http://delta-omicron.org/index00.html |date=27 January 2010 }}

In 1979, Julius Rudel became the music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. Though faced with many financial constraints, Rudel's tenure was marked with emphasis on the classical repertoire as well as gala performances with Beverly Sills and Plácido Domingo. Rudel also took the BPO on a West Coast tour and made a commemorative recording with CBS Masterworks of music for the holiday season.

In 2009 he was honored by the US National Endowment for the Arts for his many contributions to opera. He died in Manhattan on 26 June 2014.{{cite web|title=Julius Rudel, Longtime City Opera Impresario Dies at 93|date=26 June 2014|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/27/arts/music/julius-rudel-longtime-city-opera-impresario-dies-at-93.html| last=McFadden|first=Robert|work=The New York Times}}

Recordings

Audio

Floyd: The Sojourner and Mollie Sinclair (Neway, Treigle; 1963) [live] VAI
Handel: Giulio Cesare (Sills, Wolff, Forrester, Treigle; 1967) RCA Victor
Ginastera: Bomarzo (Novoa; 1967) Columbia Records
Massenet: Manon (Sills, Gedda, Souzay, Bacquier; 1970) Westminster
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
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) [live] VAI
Verdi: La traviata (Sills, H.Price, Fredricks; Capobianco, 1976) [live] VAI
Massenet: Manon (Sills, H.Price, Fredricks, Ramey; Capobianco, 1977) [live] Paramount
Saint-Saëns: Samson et Dalila (Verrett, Domingo, Brendel; Joël, 1981) [live] Kultur
Giordano: Andrea Chénier (Tomowa-Sintow, Domingo, Zancanaro; Hampe, 1985) [live] Kultur

References

Notes

Sources

Morgan, Brian (2006), Strange Child of Chaos: Norman Treigle iUniverse, 2006. {{ISBN|0-595-38898-1}}
Rudel, Julius; Rebecca Paller (2013), First and Lasting Impressions: Julius Rudel Looks Back on a Life in Music. University of Rochester Press. {{ISBN|978-1-58046-434-5}}

External links

{{IMDb name|0748701}}
Duffie, Bruce, [http://www.bruceduffie.com/rudel.html Interview with Julius Rudel], 1 November 1982 (Published in the "Massenet Newsletter" in July 1983)
[https://web.archive.org/web/20111016082649/http://nea.gov/honors/opera/operaCMS/honoree.php?id=o2009_05 National Endowment for the Arts Opera Honors, 2009: Julius Rudel] on nea.gov/honors
[http://www.music.buffalo.edu/bpo/rudel.htm Rudel biography on Buffalo Philharmonic's website at buffalo.edul]
Stevenson, John, [{{AllMusic|class=artist|id=q49870/biography|pure_url=yes}} Artist Biography on allmusic.com]

{{succession box | title=Music Director, Caramoor Festival | before=Walter Hendl | years=1962–1976 | after=John Nelson

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{{succession box |title=Music Director, Buffalo Philharmonic | before=Michael Tilson Thomas | years=1979–1985 | after= Semyon Bychkov

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Category:1921 births

Category:2014 deaths

Category:American conductors (music)

Category:American male conductors (music)

Category:Jewish emigrants from Austria after the Anschluss to the United States

Category:Jewish American classical musicians

Category:Grammy Award winners

Category:Mannes School of Music alumni