Maurice Abravanel
| Maurice Abravanel | |
|---|---|
| Also known as | Maurice de Abravanel |
| Born |
January 6, 1903 Thessaloniki, Rumelia Province, Ottoman Empire |
| Died | September 22, 1993 (aged 90) Salt Lake City, Utah, United States |
| Occupation(s) | Conductor |
| Instruments | Piano |
Maurice Abravanel (January 6, 1903 – September 22, 1993) was an American conductor of classical music. He is remembered as the conductor of the Utah Symphony Orchestra for over 30 years.
Abravanel was born in Salonika, Rumelia Eyalet, Ottoman Empire (modern Thessaloniki, Greece). He came from an illustrious Sephardic Jewish family, which was expelled from Spain in 1492 (see Isaac Abrabanel). Abravanel's ancestors settled in Salonika in 1517, and his parents were both born there. In 1909, the Abravanel family moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, where the father, Edouard de Abravanel, was a successful pharmacist.
For several years, the Abravanels lived in the same house as Ernest Ansermet, the conductor of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. The young Abravanel played four-hand piano arrangements with Ansermet, began to compose, and met composers such as Darius Milhaud and Igor Stravinsky. He was passionate about music and knew he wanted a career as a musician. He became the pianist for the municipal theatre and music critic for the city's daily newspaper.
Maurice's father, however, insisted on a career in medicine and sent him to the University of Zürich, where he was miserable at having to dissect corpses. He wrote to his father that he would rather be second percussionist in an orchestra than a doctor, and his father finally relented.
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