Dean Dixon ( Eng. Dean Dixon , January 10, 1915 , New York - November 4, 1976 , Zurich ) - American conductor . Dixon was the first African American to conduct the largest orchestras in the United States and one of the first Americans to take over as chief conductor in a European orchestra.
| Dean Dixon Dean dixon | |
|---|---|
 Dean Dixon in 1941 . Photo by Karl Van Wechten | |
| basic information | |
| Date of Birth | January 10, 1915 |
| Place of Birth | New York , USA |
| Date of death | November 4, 1976 (61 years old) |
| Place of death | Zurich , Switzerland |
| A country |  USA |
| Professions | conductor |
| Genres | classical music |
| Collectives | RSO Frankfurt , GSO , SSO |
Biography
Dean Dixon studied conducting at Juilliard School and Columbia University . Unable to work with American orchestras due to racial discrimination , the African American Dixon organized his own orchestra and choir in 1931 . In 1941, he was the first African American to be invited to conduct the NBC Symphony Orchestra and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra . Then came invitations from the Philadelphia and Boston orchestras .
In 1949, he left the United States and ran the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra for two seasons. From 1953 to 1960, Dixon served as chief conductor of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in Sweden , becoming one of the first Americans to take such a position in a European orchestra. From 1964 to 1967 he directed the Sydney Symphony Orchestra , and from 1961 to 1974 - the Frankfurt Radio Orchestra . During his life in Europe, Dixon also repeatedly worked with other orchestras, including the Bavarian and Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestras. He made several recordings of music by Beethoven , Brahms , Haydn , Weber and Mendelssohn with the Prague Symphony Orchestra . Dean Dixon first introduced the European public to a number of works by American composers.
In the 1970s, Dean Dixon returned to the United States, where he worked with the New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony , Philadelphia , Brooklyn and San Francisco Symphony Orchestras. He also collaborated with orchestras in South America , Africa and Israel . The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers awarded him an award for popularizing music classes among American youth.
There is a famous story about how once Dean Dixon, injuring his shoulder and arm, held a concert, conducting the orchestra with the help of facial expressions, eye movements and eyebrows [1] .
Notes
- ↑ On the art of conductor (Doc). noty.bratstvo.org. Date of treatment April 25, 2010. Archived April 24, 2012.