Sergiu Celibidache

Sergiu Celibidache (Conductor) Sergiu Celibidache was born on July 11, 1912, in Romania. Growing up in the Moldovan city of Lassy, he received his first piano lessons early on and soon developed a keen interest in musical composition. After several years of studying mathematics, philosophy, and music, first in Lassy, then in Bucharest and Paris, he moved to Germany in 1936 to study composition at the Berlin University of the Arts (under Heinz Tiessen). Two years later, he enrolled in Walter Gmeindl's conducting class. After the end of the war and the sudden death of Leo Borchard in the summer of 1945, Celibidache, fresh out of university, took over the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, a position he held until 1952. His encounters with Wilhelm Furtwängler were of crucial importance to the young Romanian conductor. Sergiu Celibidache deliberately avoided all institutions that he believed could get by with mere routine after leaving the Berlin Philharmonic. Instead, he always collaborated, though never in permanent arrangements, with orchestras that offered him sufficient rehearsal time to align with his musical vision. In June 1979, Celibidache became the artistic director of the Munich Philharmonic and General Music Director of the state capital Munich. The "Munich" was the only orchestra the Maestro still conducted. One of the very rare exceptions was at the end of March 1992, for two benefit concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic, whose podium he had last stood on November 29, 1954, after the disappointing election of Herbert von Karajan as Furtwängler's successor. Among the numerous honors and awards for the Maestro, it is worth mentioning his appointment as honorary professor of the federal capital Berlin and the conferment of the Bavarian Order of Merit, as well as the honorary citizenship of his hometown Lassy and the "Doctor honoris causa" from the local Academy of Arts. On his 80th birthday, Sergiu Celibidache was honored with the Grand Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the honorary citizenship of the state capital Munich. He died on August 14, 1996, near Paris.