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Dorati AntalHungarian and American conductor and composer
Date of Birth: 09.04.1906
Country:  USA |
Content:
- Antal Doráti: A Life in Music
- Early Career in Europe
- Ballet and Symphony Orchestras
- Recordings and Compositions
- Later Career and Recognition
Antal Doráti: A Life in Music
Early Life and TrainingAntál Doráti was a Hungarian and American conductor and composer. Born in Budapest, Hungary, he studied at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music under Zoltán Kodály and Leó Weiner (composition) and Béla Bartók and Arnold Székely (piano).
Early Career in Europe
Doráti began his musical career as a répétiteur at the Royal Opera House in Budapest. From 1924 to 1928, he worked with Fritz Busch at the Dresden State Opera. In 1928, he became first conductor of the Municipal Theatre in Münster.
Ballet and Symphony Orchestras
From 1934, Doráti served as music director for the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo. In 1942, he joined the American Ballet Theatre, where he worked until 1945. He became a US citizen in 1947.
Doráti subsequently focused more on orchestral conducting. He led the Dallas Symphony Orchestra (1945-1948), the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (1949-1960), the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1963-1966), the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra (1966-1970), the National Symphony Orchestra of the United States (1970-1977), the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (1977-1981), and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in London (1975-1979).
Recordings and Compositions
Doráti made numerous recordings of classical music, including all 108 symphonies by Joseph Haydn, works by Béla Bartók and Zoltán Kodály, and, in 1954, the first recordings of all three ballets by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ("Swan Lake," "Sleeping Beauty," and "The Nutcracker").
He was also a composer, writing two symphonies, pieces for solo oboe and ensembles, and the drama for narrator, choir, and orchestra "Jesus or Barabbas?" (1987).
Later Career and Recognition
In 1983, Doráti was made a Knight Commander of the British Empire by Queen Elizabeth II. He continued to conduct and compose until his death in 1988.
