A US musician, André Previn, who has worked extensively as conductor, composer and pianist, died February 28 at his house in New York Manhattan. He was 89 years old. After attracting attention as a young jazz pianist, he worked on composing Hollywood movie music and won an Academy Award four times.
After that he was active as a conductor. He has served as Principal Conductor such as the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Since then, he has also performed numerous guest performances in world-renowned orchestras including the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
Previn was born in 1929 in Berlin. Born in a Jewish German family, he entered a music school at the age of 6 and studied the piano, but escaped the persecution of the Nazi regime and emigrated to the United States in 1939. In 1943 he got the citizenship of the United States, and was convoked in 1950 and belonged to the Army troop band.
After the war to the music director of the MGM（Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc）. The nomination of the Academy Awards is 13 times, “Gigi” in 1958, “Porgy and Bess” in 1959, “Irma La Douce” in 1963, “My Fair Lady” in 1964 gained Oscar. In addition, the Grammy Awards were nominated 44 times, winning ten times. The first prize that won the award was “Gigi” album, which won the Special Achievement Award in 2010.
Meanwhile, he studied under French conductor Pierre Monteux. As a conductor, he expanded his place of activity, directing various orchestras, starting with the music director of the Houston Symphony Orchestra.
He has worked with the London Symphony Orchestra (1968-1979), the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (1976-1984), the Los Angeles Philharmonic (1985-1989), the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra (1985-1992), the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra 2002-2006) and so on, he has served as music director, Principal conductor.
It is deeply connected with the London Symphony Orchestra and has been awarded the title of Conductor Laureate in 1992 and Conductor Emeritus in 2016. The last Concert was in 2015, and the concert planned for 2016 has been canceled due to his physical condition.
In addition to being honored by Knight (KBE) in the UK, he was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors in 1998. Composition activities continue for a long time, and in 2014 double concertos for violin and cello were premiered worldwide in Cincinnati. Also in commemoration of the 90th birthday in April, at the Tanglewood Festival, soprano Renee Fleming and Emerson String Quartet co-starred and the world premiere of “Penelope” was going to be held.
He is married five times. After marrying for the first time with Jazz singer Betty Bennett in 1952, he married an actress Mia Farrow, violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and others. He remarried with the last Mutter in 2002, but both of them have been divorced in 2006.
Photo：Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra
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