Georges Sébastian
Georges Sébastian (August 17, 1903 – April 12, 1989) was a French
.Born György Sebestyén, he studied first the piano and violin in his native Budapest, before turning to composition. He then worked with
He then spent one season from 1923–24 as assistant conductor at the
In 1938, he returned to America and spent the war years there, holding several posts including conductor at the
After the war, he returned to Europe, and settled in France. He made his debut at the Palais Garnier in 1947, and was to conduct there the debuts of both Maria Callas (1958) and Renata Tebaldi (1959). He was also very active conducting on French radio, notably the complete symphonies of Bruckner and Mahler.
He recorded complete sets of Lakmé (with Mado Robin, 1952) and Mignon (1953) for Decca Records; and Thaïs (with Géori Boué, 1952) and Werther (with Suzanne Juyol, 1952) for Urania. His best-known recording may be, however, that of excerpts from Carmen (1946), with Risë Stevens, Nadine Conner, Raoul Jobin and Robert Weede, for Columbia Records. Among Sébastian's "pirate" recordings are Elektra (1966) and Salome (1967), both with Anja Silja.
EMI has published the kinescope of the Callas debut, "La Grande Nuit de l'Opéra," on DVD. Included are excerpts from La forza del destino, Norma, Il trovatore, Il barbiere di Siviglia, and a staged Act II of Tosca (also with Albert Lance and Tito Gobbi).
Sources
- Le dictionnaire des interprètes, ISBN 2-221-06660-X
External links
- Georges Sébastian conducting an excerpt from Il trovatore on YouTube, with Maria Callas, 1958.
- Georges Sebastian's Profile at The Remington Site
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