Horst Stein
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Horst Walter Stein (born 2 May 1928 in Elberfeld, Germany; died 27 July 2008 in Vandœuvres, Switzerland) was a German conductor.
Biography
Stein's father was a mechanic. At school in
In 1955, at the invitation of Erich Kleiber[1] Stein conducted at the opening of the restored Berlin State Opera (Unter den Linden),[2] and subsequently worked there as a Staatskapellmeister. From 1961 to 1963, he worked under the leadership of Rolf Liebermann as deputy chief conductor at the Hamburg State Opera. From 1963 to 1970, Stein served as chief conductor and director of opera at the Mannheim National Theatre. Stein held a regular post at the Vienna State Opera from 1969 to 1971, where he conducted 500 performances.[3] He returned to the Hamburg State Opera as General Music Director from 1972 to 1977.
In 1952, Stein began work as a conducting assistant at the Bayreuth Festival to such conductors as Joseph Keilberth, Hans Knappertsbusch, Clemens Krauss and Herbert von Karajan. One source estimates that he subsequently conducted 76 performances there from 1969 to 1986, including the 1983 Bayreuth centenary production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg,[4] but this figure is clearly mistaken since Stein had already led 81 in his first seven seasons. More plausibly, Gramophone magazine gives the remarkable total of 138 performances, a number that jibes with the Festspielhaus database.[5]
He held principal conducting positions with the
He spent much time training young conductors.[6]
Honours and awards
- Bruckner ring (Vienna Symphony Orchestra, 1996)
- Honorary member of the Richard Wagner SocietyLinz
- Austrian Decoration for Science and Art (1995)
- Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art (2003)
References
- ^ Gramophone, October 2008, p8
- ^ Raeburn, Christopher and Koegler, Horst, "New Opera Houses" (Winter, 1955–1956). Tempo (New Ser.), 38" pp. 23-29.
- ^ Gramophone, October 2008, p8
- ^ Kinderman, William, "Performers and Instruments: Bayreuth 1983" (Summer 1984). 19th-Century Music, 8 (1): pp. 60-63
- ^ Gramophone, October 2008, p8
- ^ Gramophone, October 2008, p8
External links
- Horst Walter Stein discography (in German)
- Audio recordings with Horst Stein in the Online Archive of the Österreichische Mediathek (Interviews and radio reports) (in German) Retrieved 2. March 2020