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Jesus LOPEZ COBOS |
Appointed 11th music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra in 1986, Jesus Lopez Cobos personifies the commitment to excellence, musical knowledge and love of music that have led the CSO into a new era of acclaim.
During the 1997-98 season he led the CSO in 12 Music Hall subscription concerts, and in East Coast and Carnegie Hall concerts with violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg. The CSO's first national telecast appeared this season on PBS-TV under his direction, featuring pianist Alicia de Larrocha. In June, he and the orchestra, with pianist Barry Douglas, travelled to Puerto Rico to give two concerts at the prestigious Casals Festival.
Among the orchestra's other tours during his tenure are a successful trip toTaiwan and Japan (1990), eight sold-out performances at Carnegie Hall, and two West Coast tours (the CSO's first in 1992, and also in1997). In 1995 he led the orchestra in its first European tour since 1969.
Under his direction, the CSO has made 21 recordings for Telarc, beginning with a 1987 release of music by Falla (a stereo Review "Record of the Year"). Other highly praised releases include music of Wagner, Respighi, Strauss, Bruckner, Bizet, Franck, Mahler and Ravel. February 1997 brought Mahler's Symphony N° 9, which earned praise from Stereophile: "Jesus Lopez Cobos' reading stands tall among the very best, namely Walter, Bernstein, von Karajan. I wouldn't even argue too strongly if you claimed that it is the best". The CSO's latest CD, Albeniz' Iberia was released in February 1998 and a CD of Mahler's Symphony N°3 in the fall 2001.
A busy guest conductor here and abroad, last summer Maestro Lopez Cobos led the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, conducted two evenings at New York'sMostly Mozart Symphony orchestra in three concerts. He also led the major orchestras of New-York, Cleveland, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Montreal, Pittsburgh, Dallas, Atlanta, Seattle, Berlin, Vienna, aris, Oslo, Gothenberg and Israel, and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande and the Concert gebouw Orchestra.
Maestro Lopez Cobos has decided
not to renew his contract with the CSO as well as his one with the prestigious
Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, where he has been appointed for 10 years,
in order to develop his international career as guest conductor.
The CSO promoted him Emeritus Musical Director for ever.
In the next few years he will conduct all around the world in America as well asin Europe – Scandinavia (Malmö, Stavanger, Odense), France (Orchestre National de France, Bordeaux, Lyon, Lille, Monte-Carlo, Strasbourg), Spain (Madrid, Séville, La Coruña), the Gulbenkian Foundation Orchestra in Portugal, Germany, Eastern Europe etc.
He will also appear as operatic
conductor at the Teatro Real in Madrid, Liceu in Barcelona, Chicago Lyric
Opera, Covent Garden in London, and he begins a regular collaboration
with the Opéra de Paris (Manon in 2001, Carmen and Les Contes d’Hoffman
in 2002, Barbiere Di Siviglia in 2003, Manon in 2004).
He was appointed Permanent Conductor of the Orchestre Français
des Jeunes in Paris for summer education/performance programs for French
youth from 1998 to 2000.
He served as principal guest conductor of the London Philharmonic (1981-86) and was music director of the Spanish National Orchestra (1984-1988). He is a frequent guest conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic.
As general music director of the Deutsche Oper Berlin 1981-90, Maestro Lopez Cobos conducted 30 new productions at the Berlin Opera, including a 1987 performance of The Ring in Japan, the first time Wagner's four-opera cycle had been performed here. He has also conducted the new opera productions at La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden and the Vienna Opera.
A native of Spain, he studied at the University of Granada and Madrid, where he earned a doctorate in Philosophy. He had received one formal musical training when he began conducting with Franco Ferrarain Italy and later with Hans Swarowsky in Vienna. He took first prize in the 1968 Besançon Competition, and in 1980 made his European orchestral debut at the Prague Festival and hid operatic debut in Venice. In North America he made his operatic debut with the San Francisco Opera (1972) and his orchestral debut with the Los Angeles Philharmonic (1978).
He was the first recipient of the Prince of the Asturias Award (1981), given by the Spanish government and the Royal House for outstanding contributions to the arts. He received the distinguished Service Medal First Class (1989) from the German government for contributions to musical culture. In 1996, the UC College-Conservatory of Music awarded him an Honorary Doctorate.