Alexander Gibson (conductor)

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Sir Alexander Drummond Gibson

Royal Patronage
.

Biography

Gibson was born in Motherwell in 1926 and brought up in the village of New Stevenston, the son of James McClure Gibson and his wife Wilhelmina Williams.[1]

He was introduced to professional opera at the age of 12 when his parents took him to a performance of

Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow. In 1943 he matriculated at the University of Glasgow to study Music and English. After his first year, however, the war interrupted his studies and he served with the Royal Signals Band until 1948 when he took up a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London,[1]
after which Sir Alexander Gibson studied at the Mozarteum, Salzburg under Igor Markevitch, and under Paul Van Kempen at the Accademia Chigiana, Siena.

He was Assistant Conductor of the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra 1952–54 and conducted two productions for the amateur Glasgow Grand Opera Society in 1954. At the time of his appointment in 1957 as musical director of Sadler's Wells, he was the youngest ever to have taken that position. He met his wife Veronica at Sadlers Wells and they married in 1958.

Returning to Glasgow, in 1959 he became the first Scottish principal conductor and artistic director of the

The Proms
.

Gibson created and launched

Houston Symphony Orchestra
. He was principal conductor of the Guildford Philharmonic. During his career he made guest appearances with all the major British orchestras and extensively throughout Europe, Australia, the Americas, Hong Kong and Japan. [2]

Honours

His many awards include two Grand Prix International de l’Academie Charles Cros Awards, the

Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama
, where in his memory, the Alexander Gibson School of Opera was opened in 1998. It is the first purpose-built opera school in Great Britain.

Gibson had a particular affinity for

Berlioz
– the first ever complete performance of both parts of the opera in one evening.

Gibson was the recipient of the 1970 St Mungo Prize, awarded to the individual who has done most in the previous three years to improve and promote the city of Glasgow.[3]

Death

Sir Alexander Gibson died in December 1995 from complications following a heart attack. He was 68. He was survived by his wife Veronica and their four children.

Legacy

Sir Alexander Gibson's mission was to make classical music and opera accessible to all, and throughout his career he devotedly encouraged musicians and singers to rise to the very best of their abilities. His discography is detailed in the biography of him by Conrad Wilson, as are the numerous premieres, concert works and operas he conducted. In the Theatre Royal, Glasgow there is a lofty portrait of him in the orchestra pit perched on a stool, painted by David Donaldson, the Queen's Limner in Scotland, and a bust of him as conductor by the sculptor Archie Forrest. A street in his home town of Motherwell, is named Alexander Gibson Way in his honour.

Sources

  1. ISBN 0-902-198-84-X. Archived from the original
    (PDF) on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2016.
  2. ^ Magnusson, Magnus (1963), The Opera Makers, in New Saltire No. 8, June 1963, New Saltire Ltd., Edinburgh, pp. 5 - 18
  3. ^ "AP Somervillen". A P Somerville. The Glasgow Story. Retrieved 5 August 2017.

External links
Cultural offices
Preceded by Music Director, Sadler's Wells
1957–1959 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
none
 Music Director, Scottish Opera
1962–1986 		Succeeded by
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alexander_Gibson_(conductor)&oldid=1211179236"