Lothar Zagrosek (born 13 November 1942 in Otting,

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG),, is a country in Central Europe. It is the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany lies between the Baltic and North Sea to the north and the Alps to the sou ...

) is a German

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

. As a youth, he sang in the Regensburg Cathedral choir, including performances as the First Boy in '' The Magic Flute'' at the 1954

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Ama ...

. From 1962 to 1967, Zagrosek studied conducting with Hans Swarowsky, István Kertész,

Bruno Maderna Bruno Maderna (21 April 1920 – 13 November 1973) was an Italian conductor and composer. Life Maderna was born Bruno Grossato in Venice but later decided to take the name of his mother, Caterina Carolina Maderna.Interview with Maderna‘s thr ...

and Herbert von Karajan. Zagrosek was chief conductor of the

Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra The Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (German: ''ORF Radio-Symphonieorchester Wien'', or RSO Wien) is the orchestra of the Austrian national broadcaster Österreichischer Rundfunk (ORF). Unlike most other Austrian orchestras, the RSO Wien has a sub ...

from 1982 to 1986. He was principal guest conductor of the

BBC Symphony Orchestra The BBC Symphony Orchestra (BBC SO) is a British orchestra based in London. Founded in 1930, it was the first permanent salaried orchestra in London, and is the only one of the city's five major symphony orchestras not to be self-governing. T ...

from 1985 to 1988. Between 1990 and 1992, he conducted regularly at the

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

Opera. In 1995, he became principal guest conductor of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie. From 1997 to 2006, he was chief conductor at the Württemberg opera house in Stuttgart. From 2006 to 2011, he was chief conductor of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the former Berlin Symphony Orchestra (''Berliner Sinfonie-Orchester'').

Selected recordings

Among Zagrosek's commercial recordings are several issues in Decca's ''

Entartete Musik Degenerate music (german: Entartete Musik, link=no, ) was a label applied in the 1930s by the government of Nazi Germany to certain forms of music that it considered harmful or decadent. The Nazi government's concerns about degenerate music were a ...

'' series, including the following works: * Walter Braunfels: ''

Die Vögel Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life. Die may also refer to: Games * Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers Manufacturing * Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...

'' * Hanns Eisler: ''Deutsche Sinfonie'' * Berthold Goldschmidt: '' Der gewaltige Hahnrei'' *

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the '' ...

: '' Der Dämon'' *

Hans Krása Hans Krása (30 November 1899 – 17 October 1944) was a Czech composer, murdered during the Holocaust at Auschwitz. He helped to organize cultural life in Theresienstadt concentration camp. Life Hans Krása was born in Prague, the son of An ...

: '' Verlobung im Traum'' *

Ernst Krenek Ernst Heinrich Krenek (, 23 August 1900 – 22 December 1991) was an Austrian, later American, composer of Czech origin. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including ''Music Here and Now'' (1939), a stud ...

: Symphony No. 2, ''Jonny spielt auf'' * Franz Schreker: '' Die Gezeichneten'', ''

Der Geburtstag der Infantin ''Der Geburtstag der Infantin'' is a “dance-pantomime” in one act by Austrian composer Franz Schreker, based on the Oscar Wilde novella ''The Birthday of the Infanta''. Background The work was commissioned by the sisters Elsa and Grete Wiesen ...

'' * Erwin Schulhoff: '' Die Mondsüchtige'' * Viktor Ullmann: '' Der Kaiser von Atlantis'' Zagrosek conducted and recorded Wagner's opera cycle '' Der Ring des Nibelungen'' with the Stuttgart State Opera on the Naxos label (NXS 8660170). In addition, Zagrosek has recorded contemporary music, including works of Michael Torke.Everett, William A., "Recording Reviews" (Music of Michael Torke) (Summer 1998). ''American Music'', 16 (2): pp. 243-246.

References

External links

Biography (in German)
1942 births Living people German male conductors (music) People from Donau-Ries Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 21st-century German conductors (music) 21st-century German male musicians {{Germany-conductor-stub