Álvaro Cassuto

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Álvaro Leon Cassuto (born November 17, 1938 in Porto , Portugal ) is an important Portuguese conductor and composer. He is the most important conductor in Portugal in the twentieth century and the most internationally famous conductor in his country.

Life

Álvaro Cassuto comes from an ancient Jewish- Sephardic aristocracy that fled Portugal during the Renaissance and settled in Hamburg . From there, his father Alfonso Cassuto had to flee from the Nazis to his home country Portugal in the 1930s, so that, unlike his father, Álvaro is not German, but Portuguese.

As a teenager and young adult he was initially inclined to composing and, together with Emmanuel Nunes, was one of the most important representatives of twelve-tone music in Portugal, but who did not come close to the importance and fame of Nunes in this field.

He studied orchestral conducting with Pedro de Freitas Branco in Lisbon , the brother of Luís de Freitas Branco , in Hilversum and with Herbert von Karajan in Berlin . He obtained a "Kapellmeister diploma" in Vienna and also passed his state examination in law. He was also a student under the aegis of Professor Fernando Lopes Graça , an important Portuguese composer.

This was followed by an unprecedented career for a Portuguese as a conductor and orchestra leader around the world. For 20 years alone he worked as a conductor and orchestra leader in the USA, one of his most famous appearances as a conductor, which was widely supported by the New York Times , was at the legendary Carnegie Hall . He has worked as a conductor and orchestra leader in Philadelphia , Oklahoma City , San Antonio , Boston , Baltimore , Los Angeles and San Francisco , among others .

Musical career

As a conductor, he has recorded a good 50 records, and he was also under contract with the well-known music company Naxos . The most famous Portuguese composers he has recorded included João Domingos Bomtempo , Joly Braga Santos , Luís de Freitas-Branco, Fernando Lopes Graça, and Marcos Portugal . The non-Portuguese composers mainly included Mozart , Beethoven , Alberto Ginastera , Joseph Haydn and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy .

The modern orchestral system in Portugal was founded by him. He founded the " Nova Symphonia Portuguesa ", the " Orquestra do Algarve " in Porto and the Portuguese Symphonic Orchestra and thus left a decisive mark on the deepening of classical music in Portugal. From 1980 to 1981 he was artistic director of the famous São Carlos Opera in Lisbon, one of the most famous opera houses in the world.

As a guest conductor, he has also directed world-famous orchestras such as the London Symphony Orchestra , the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London and the BBC Symphony Orchestra .

Orchestras that he led permanently for many years were the University of California Orchestra from 1974 to 1979 , the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra from 1979 to 1985 , the National Orchestra of New York City from 1981 to 1986 , Nova Filarmónica Portuguesa from 1988 to 1993, des Portuguese Symphonic Orchestra from 1993 to 1999 and the Orquestra do Algarve from 2002 to 2005.

In Germany he became known through his connections to the Hamburg Sephardic and as head of the radio orchestras in Berlin and Leipzig . He also worked as a conductor in Jerusalem , Brussels , Milan , St. Petersburg and Moscow .

Awards (selection)

  • Koussetzky Prize, 1969 in Tanglewood .
  • Prix ​​International du Disque, 2004 in Cannes .
  • Grand Officer of the Order of Santiago de Espada, awarded in 2009 by His Excellency the President of the Portuguese Republic.

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personal data
SURNAME Cassuto, Álvaro
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cassuto, Álvaro Leon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Portuguese conductor and composer
DATE OF BIRTH November 17, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH Porto , Portugal