Julius Rudel
Julius Rudel was one of the best-known American conductors and musical administrators mainly associated with operatic performances. As a child, he was deeply attracted to music, regularly attended the Vienna Philharmonic concerts and saw some of the great conductors of the age, including Knappertsbusch, Furtwängler, and Walter. He began his formal musical studies at the Academy of Music in Vienna. At the time of the Nazi occupation of Austria, he left the country and completed his musical studies at Mannes School of Music in New York, graduating in 1943. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1944.
After graduation, he was hired on the musical staff of the New York City Opera, where he helped prepare performances. His debut as a professional conductor was with the NYCO on November 25, 1944. He remained with the NYCO for 35 years, becoming its principal conductor and general director in 1957. Under his leadership, the company came to be respected as one of the leading opera companies of the United States. One of his most astute decisions was in engaging soprano Beverly Sills as its leading singer. Rudel already had an interest in opera written before the time of Mozart and in the then-neglected era of Italian bel canto opera. Operas of Handel, Donizetti, Bellini, and Rossini were frequently represented on the NYCO stage. Their style was also well-suited to the abilities of Sills and her frequent partner, mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne, and made the New York City Opera's seasons more exciting than the standard fare offered by the rival Metropolitan Opera Company (which became the NYCO's neighbor at the Lincoln Center in the 1960s). A feature of his seasons was a strong support for American operas.
During his tenure at the NYCO, Rudel also often conducted in major opera centers in Vienna, Munich, Chicago, San Francisco, Paris, Rome, London, Hamburg, Berlin, and even the Met. He was also the first music director of the Kennedy Center in Washington and of the Wolf Trap Festival. He was music director of the Cincinnati May Festival and the Caramoor Festival.
He left the City Opera in 1979 in order to have more time for symphonic conducting. He accepted a position as music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic and frequently conducted the Orchestra of St. Luke's in New York, with which he recorded works of Weill, Schubert, and Mozart on the MusicMasters label. He also conducted the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and others. Meanwhile, he continued as an opera conductor, appearing at the Met, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, the Bastille Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, the Royal Opera in Copenhagen, and the Deutsche Oper of Berlin.
He made a number of successful opera recordings and was nominated for Grammy Awards several times, winning once. In 1961, his home nation of Austria presented him a special award for his service to arts and sciences. He was also a Chevalier des Arts et Lettres in France, recipient of awards from Israel and Germany, and holder of several honorary doctorates. In 1996, New York City proclaimed his 75th birthday "Julius Rudel Day," which Rudel himself observed by conducting Madama Butterfly at the Met.
© TiVo
Similar artists
-
Julian Olevsky, Vol. 5: Violin Concertos
Julian Olevsky, Orchester der Wiener Staatsoper, Washington National Symphony Orchestra, Julius Rudel, Howard Mitchell
Classical - Released by DOREMI on 17 Aug 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert: Symphonies 5 & 6
Julius Rudel, Orchestra of St. Luke's
Classical - Released by Musical Heritage Society on 5 Jul 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart: La Clemenza Di Tito & Così fan tutte (arr. for woodwinds)
Julius Rudel, Amadeus Ensemble
Opera - Released by Musical Heritage Society on 1 Jan 2002
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Marton, Eva: Soprano Arias and Opera Excerpts - Live in Concert 1988
Eva Marton, Hungarian State Orchestra, Julius Rudel
Opera - Released by Hungaroton on 15 Jul 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Fidelio (arr. for wind octet and bass) (Arranged For Wind Octet And Bass By Wenzl Sedlak)
Julius Rudel, Amadeus Ensemble
Chamber Music - Released by MusicMasters on 1 Jan 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn: Concerto pour violon, Op. 64 - Bruch: Concerto pour violon No. 1, Op. 26 (Mono Version)
Julian Olevsky, Julius Rudel, Wiener Staatsoper
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mendelssohn: Concerto pour violon, Op. 64 - Bruch: Concerto pour violon No. 1, Op. 26 (Mono Version)
Julian Olevsky, Orchestre de l'opéra d'état de Vienne, Julius Rudel
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1962
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Janáček: Nursery Rhymes, Youth, Capriccio, & Concertino
Hilde Somer, Caramoor Festival Orchestra, Julius Rudel, Unknown Artist
Classical - Released by Phoenix USA on 1 Jan 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Janacek: Nursery Ryhmes - Youth - Capriccio - Concertino (Produced)
Classical - Released by Phoenix USA on 1 Jan 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: The Seven Last Words Of Our Saviour On The Cross
Julius Rudel, Orchestra of St. Luke's
Classical - Released by Musical Heritage Society on 1 Jan 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Weill: Concerto for Violin and Wind Orchestra, Op. 12, Little Threepenny Music
Julius Rudel, Orchestra of St. Luke's
Classical - Released by Musical Heritage Society on 1 Jan 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo