http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au
LOUIS FRÉMAUX 1921 – 2017
French conductor Louis Frémaux, Chief Conductor of
the Sydney Symphony Orchestra from 1979 to 1981,
has died aged 95. The conductor, whose performances
UK music critic Noel Goodwin described as “frequently
distinguished by freshness, suppleness and, in the French
repertory, an airy brilliance,” led the SSO in the years
before Charles Mackerras took over as its Chief.
Frémaux was born in Air-sur-la-Lys, France in 1921 and
studied at the Valenciennes Conservatoire. His musical
education was interrupted by the Second World War in
which he served with the Resistance in France and the
Foreign Legion in East Asia. He continued his studies
at the Paris Conservatoire, winning a premier prix for
conducting in 1952 then made his debut the
following year. Shortly afterwards, he
was appointed musical director of the
Monte Carlo Opera Orchestra, where
he stayed for nearly a decade.
In 1969 he was made a Chevalier
of the Légion d’Honneur and was
appointed music director of the City
of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra,
a position he held until 1978.ALBERTO ZEDDA 1928 – 2017
Italian conductor and musicologist Alberto Zedda died
on March 6 aged 89. A leading authority on 19th-century
Italian opera, the maestro was a world expert on Rossini.
Zedda was born in Milan where he studied, then made
his conducting debut in 1956 with Il Barbiere di Siviglia. So
began a love affair with the operas of Gioachino Rossini.
In 1957, Zedda won the International Italian Radio and
Television Competition for conductors, and invitations
quickly followed from across Italy and overseas. He
conducted at all the important opera houses in Europe as
well as at San Francisco Opera, Los Angeles Opera, New
York City Opera, Covent Garden and the Mariinsky.
Zedda was a co-founder and long-standing Director
of the Rossini Opera Festival, held annually in August
in Rossini’s birthplace of Pesaro from 1980.
He recorded several Rossini operas for
Naxos including Tanc redi, L’Italiana
in Algeri, La Cenerentola (with Joyce
DiDonato) and La Donna del Lago.
He also collaborated with scholar
Philip Gossett on a complete critical
edition of all Rossini's operas. He was
to conduct La Cenerentola in Pesaro in
February but withdrew due to illness.Requiem