Pierre Monteux

A much-loved institution in the classical music world for more than 70 years, Pierre Monteux was a superstar conductor of the 20th century, who led the major symphony orchestras of the world and was renowned for his light, elegant, sophisticated interpretations of Beethoven, Brahms and Stravinsky. Born in Paris, France, his mother was a piano teacher and sent him to violin lessons at six-years-old, before he began studying the violin at the Conservatoire de Paris where he was conducting orchestras at 12. Cutting his teeth working at the Folies Bergere cabaret hall, he played in several chamber music quartets and landed his first major break as a conductor when he stepped in at the last minute to lead a performance by the great composer and organist Camille Saint-Saens in 1895. After paying his dues working in casinos and theatres, he made his name when he worked for the ballet company Ballet Ruses and was picked by Stravinsky to conduct the world premieres of his compositions 'Petrouchka' and 'The Rite of Spring'. After serving as a soldier in WWI, he became a conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and, later, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, before settling in San Francisco in 1935. There he led the acclaimed Boston Symphony Orchestra and set up his own music school at his summer vacation home in Maine. A pioneering figure in introducing the music of Vaughan Williams and Arthur Honegger to America, Monteux was more humorous and caring in his treatment of musicians than many of his peers, and in an era of discrimination and segregation, caused controversy by openly working with black musicians. Though not a fan of studio recordings, many of his performances have been released through the record label RCA Victor, including several symphonies by Tchaikovsky, 'Symphony On a French Mountain Air' by Vincent d'Indy and his final work with the London Symphony Orchestra interpreting pieces by Ravel. He died in 1964, aged 89, after suffering three strokes at his home in Maine.

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