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Lorin Varencove Maazel was born of American parents in Neuilly, France on March 6, 1930 and the family returned to Los Angeles when Lorin was still an infant. He exhibited a remarkable ear and musical memory when very young; he had perfect pitch and sang back what he heard. He was taken at age five to study violin with Karl Moldrem. At age seven he started studying piano with Fanchon Armitage. When he became fascinated with conducting, his parents took him to symphony concerts, then arranged for him to have lessons with Vladimir Bakaleinikov, then assistant conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. At the age of eight, the University of Idaho Orchestra visited Los Angeles. Bakaleinikov arranged for his eight-year-old pupil to conduct them in Schubert's "Unfinished" B-minor symphony. (Maazel was quick with languages as well; he learned to speak Russian from studying with Bakaleinikov.) In 1938, Bakaleinikov obtained a position as assistant conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. The Maazel family followed him east so that Lorin could continue his studies with him. Lorin went to the National Music Camp at Interlochen, MI in the summer. On August 18, 1939, the National Music Camp Orchestra appeared at the New York World's Fair, and Lorin conducted it in a work. His appearance created a sensation, although some critics were negative, comparing the feat to the performance of a trained seal.

However, by 1941, Maazel had shown that he was a real conductor. He led an entire concert by the NBC Symphony Orchestra, earning a commendation from its music director, Arturo Toscanini. The next year, he conducted a complete program with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and conducted a few other orchestras, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. At that point, a halt was called to such displays, and Maazel concentrated on rounding out his education. He concentrated on the violin and gave his first recital on the instrument in Pittsburgh in 1945. In the same year he became first violinist of the Fine Arts Quartet. In 1948 he joined the orchestra as a member of the violin section. He was appointed "apprentice conductor" of the orchestra in 1949 and occupied that position until 1951. In that year he went to Italy on a Fulbright Scholarship for research in Baroque music. There, his first conducting appearance as an adult took place on December 21, 1952, in Catania. He began conducting elsewhere in Italy, then in Austria and Germany. He conducted at the Florence May Festival in 1955, at the Vienna Festival in 1957, and made his London debut in 1960 in a BBC Symphony Orchestra concert, making the then-rare choice of a Mahler Symphony, being praised for the performance's power and for his control over the structure of the work. In the same year he conducted Wagner's Lohengrin at the Bayreuth Festival, being the first American to conduct at the annual Wagner Festival there.

In 1962 he led the National Orchestra of France on an American tour; On November 1 of the same year he made a debut at the Metropolitan Opera leading Mozart's Don Giovanni. He then began touring widely as a guest conductor. He visited Japan and the U.S.S.R. in 1963. In 1965, he both conducted and produced a performance of Tchaikovsky's opera Eugene Onegin. In the same year, he was appointed artistic director of the Deutsche Opera in West Berlin (1965-1971) and the (West) Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra (1965-1975). As head of the opera company, he conducted mostly standard repertory, and premiered Luigi Dallapiccola's opera Ulisse in 1968. While he ended his opera association in 1971, he retained the orchestral post, as well as taking on the positions of associate principal conductor of the New Philharmonic Orchestra of London (1970-1972) and music director of the Cleveland Orchestra (1972-1982), accepting the very difficult job of filling the shoes of the just-deceased conductor George Szell. Maazel filled that position with excellent results. The orchestra stayed at the same level of discipline and took on a rather more colorful surface to essentially the same "Cleveland sound" that Szell had instilled in them. He led the orchestra on ten major international tours and produced fine recordings with several record companies, including making some of the earliest and best-sounding recordings in the new digital technology with Telarc Records of Cleveland. He expanded the scope of the orchestra's repertory, bringing in new European works in styles that had not been to Szell's liking. He began producing staged operas within the regular concert season of the orchestra.

A very hard worker, Maazel also guest conducted considerably and in 1976 added another orchestra when he was appointed principal guest conductor of the New Philharmonic Orchestra (until 1980), and yet another in 1977 as chief conductor of the French National Orchestra (until 1982, when he became principal guest conductor (until 1988 when he became Music director (until 1991). In the midst of this he became the regular conductor of the famous Vienna Philharmonic New Year's Day Concerts, which he retained through the 1986 concert. He resigned from his Cleveland position and was named music director emeritus in 1982. In that year he began a four-year contract as artistic director and general manager of the Vienna State Opera, the first American to hold that position. However, a change of leadership in Austria's Ministry of Culture resulted in political squabbles over artistic policies, and Maazel felt compelled to resign in 1984 He became "music consultant" to the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra in 1984, was named its music adviser and principal guest conductor in 1986, and in 1988 was made its music director (until 1996). Other appointments included the Bavarian Radio Symphony (1993-2002); the New York Philharmonic (2002-2009); the Orquestra de la Comunitat Valenciana (2006-2011); and from 2004, Arturo Toscanini Philharmonic. His last appointment began in 2011 as chief conductor of the Munich Philharmonic.

Maazel had a distinguished recording career. He won the Grand Prix de Disque of Paris and the Edison Prize from the Netherlands. His recording for Deutsche Grammophon of Ravel's opera "L'Enfant et les Sortileges" is a classic that has never been out of print and has been counted as the greatest recording of that masterwork since it appeared in the 1960s. He conducted the complete symphonies of Sibelius and Tchaikovsky with the Vienna Philharmonic in the 1960s for Decca (London); the former, in particular, is one of the distinguished recordings of the great Finnish composer's seven symphonies. Maazel also maintained his skills as a violinist; one of his famous recordings was as soloist and conductor in the five Mozart violin concertos with the English Chamber Orchestra.

Maazel was married three times: to Brazilian-American pianist Miriam Sandbank and to Israeli pianist Israela Margalit; both marriages ended in divorce; and to Dietlinde Turban. He received the Sibelius Prize of Finland, the Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit from West Germany, and other honors and honorary degrees. ~ Joseph Stevenson

One of the 20th century's great conductors, Carlo Maria Giulini was known for his probing, self-effacing approach to orchestral and operatic scores. In addition to Italy, he was active for long periods of time in Britain and the U.S.

Giulini was born on May 9, 1914, in Barletta in southeastern Italy, but when he was small, the family moved to Bolzano. In the far north of what is now Italy, the city was part of the Austrian Empire at the time. It reverted to Italy at the end of World War I, but the area remained German-speaking for decades, and Giulini grew up hearing German and Austrian music. He began violin lessons at five, and at 16, he was admitted to the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome as a violist and conducting student. Giulini auditioned and won a place in the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, then known as the Orchestra dell'Augusteo. Two years later, he won a conducting competition, but all aspects of his musical career were temporarily sidelined when he was drafted into the Italian army. A pacifist and an opponent of Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini, Giulini was sent to the front in Croatia but avoided firing his gun at enemy soldiers. Later in the war, he went into hiding in a tunnel under his wife's uncle's house; Rome was festooned with wanted posters showing his pictures. After nine months in the tunnel, he emerged after Allied troops liberated Rome in June of 1944. In short order, he conducted the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Brahms' Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98. Giulini conducted several orchestras, including the RAI Orchestra in Rome (the Italian Radio Orchestra) and the Milan Radio Orchestra, the latter from 1946 until 1954. He led several productions at an opera house in Bergamo, and there, he programmed not only Italian opera standards but works from the Baroque and Classical periods that, at the time, were little known. This caught the attention of famed conductor Arturo Toscanini, who recommended Giulini to the La Scala Opera House. Giulini became assistant conductor there in 1952 and ascended to principal conductor the following year. Over five years at La Scala, he introduced works like Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle and Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea to the tradition-bound La Scala stage, and he worked with innovative young stage directors Franco Zeffirelli and Luchino Visconti. Giulini departed La Scala in outrage when a crowd booed the controversial soprano Maria Callas, and in subsequent positions at English opera houses, he came into conflict with management, although his conducting of Visconti's production of Verdi's Don Carlos in 1955 earned acclaim. Over the 1950s and '60s, Giulini's operatic appearances became rarer. His recording debut came in 1959 with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, leading a concert version of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro.

Fortunately, he had his growing career as an orchestra conductor to fall back on. In 1955, he made his U.S. debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and that turned out to be the beginning of a longstanding relationship. He became the orchestra's principal guest conductor in 1969, and beginning in the late '70s, he also recorded with the orchestra for the Deutsche Grammophon label. In 1978, he succeeded Zubin Mehta as director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and he recorded often with that group as well. He stepped down from that post in 1984 but continued to work and record with that orchestra and many others as a guest. As an orchestral conductor, Giulini had a repertory that was narrow but deep; he added new works only after studying them intensively. He was a superb conductor of the German Romantics from Beethoven to Bruckner. Giulini was extremely prolific as a recording artist in his later years; in 2005, the year of his death, 15 recordings appeared under his name. Giulini died in Brescia, Italy, on June 14, 2005. Numerous reissues continued to appear after his death, and by the early 2020s, his recording catalog comprised well over 300 items. ~ James Manheim

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra is one of the three most acclaimed orchestras in America and one of the few serious rivals the New York Philharmonic has had in its long history. Curiously, the histories of the two orchestras are somewhat intermingled.

Theodore Thomas had organized and led orchestras in New York during the 1870s and 1880s, competing with the Philharmonic Society of New York for audiences, soloists, and American premieres of works. His orchestra did very well as a major rival to the group that would become the New York Philharmonic. The orchestra visited Chicago during several seasons, and it was intended that he would be music director of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in that city. However, in 1891, he abandoned New York entirely in favor of Chicago and arrived as the first conductor of what was then called the Chicago Orchestra. Thomas held that position until his death in 1905. In his honor, the Chicago Orchestra changed its name to the Theodore Thomas Orchestra in 1906. Six years later, the group was renamed the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

It was under the leadership of Thomas' assistant, Frederick Stock, that the Chicago Symphony's modern reputation was formed. From 1905 until his death in 1942, Stock led the orchestra in decades of programs that featured not only the established classics but the American premieres of many post-romantic works. Additionally, Stock raised the level of performance and the financial status of his players and established the orchestra in a major teaching role for aspiring musicians in its home city. Its recordings were relatively few in number because the long-playing record -- central to the appreciation of classical music -- had not yet been invented, which means there is little evidence by which modern listeners can judge the work of the orchestra during this period, but some of the recordings from that era were among the best in the world at the time. Among the few available from the period on major labels are the Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos. 4 and 5 on the BMG label, featuring soloist Arthur Schnabel with Stock conducting.

Stock's death in 1942 precipitated a difficult decade for the orchestra. Apart from the general complications of World War II, it had a great deal of trouble finding acceptable leadership. Désiré Defauw lasted for only four years, from 1943 until 1947, and Artur Rodzinski (best known for his leadership of the New York Philharmonic) was in the job for only one year (1947-1948). Rafael Kubelik served three years as music director from 1950 until 1953, but his gentlemanly manner and decidedly modern, European-centered taste in music proved unsuited to the players, critics, and management -- although it was under Kubelik that the orchestra made its first successful modern recordings, for the Mercury label, many of which were reissued in the mid-'90s.

Fritz Reiner became the music director of the Chicago Symphony in 1953, beginning the modern renaissance and blossoming of the orchestra. Under Reiner, the orchestra's playing sharpened and tightened, achieving a clean, precise, yet rich sound that made it one of the most popular orchestras in the United States. The Chicago Symphony under Reiner became established once and for all as an international-level orchestra of the first order, rivaling the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Boston Symphony. Moreover, Reiner's arrival with the orchestra coincided with its move to RCA Victor, which, in 1954, was beginning to experiment with stereo recording. With Reiner as conductor, these "Living Stereo" recordings -- characterized by vivid textures, sharp stereo separation, and microphone placement that gave the impact of a live performance -- became some of the best-selling classical albums of all time and have since been reissued numerous times on compact disc to new acclaim from critics and listeners, more than a generation removed from their original era.

Reiner's death in 1963 led to another interregnum period, during which conductor Jean Martinon led the orchestra (1963-1968). In 1969, Sir Georg Solti joined the orchestra as its music director. Under Solti, the orchestra's national and international reputations soared, as did its record sales. Reiner had begun the process of cultivating the burgeoning audience for late-romantic composers such as Mahler, but it was with Solti that the works of Mahler and Bruckner became standard fare in the orchestra's programs, right alongside those of Beethoven and Mozart. The playing standard achieved during Solti's tenure, in concert and recordings, was the highest in the history of the orchestra. Additionally, the orchestra under Solti began a quarter-century relationship with London Records that resulted in some of the best-sounding recordings of the era. Solti's approach to performance was very flamboyant yet intensely serious -- even his performances of lighter opera and concert overtures strike a perfect balance between broad gestures and finely wrought detail, attributes that have made him perhaps the most admired conductor of a major American orchestra, if not the most famous (Leonard Bernstein inevitably got more headlines during the 1960s, especially with his knack for publicity). Solti was both popular and respected, and his tenure with the Chicago Symphony coincided with his becoming the winner of the greatest number of Grammy Awards of any musician in history (he also recorded with orchestras in London and Vienna). Daniel Barenboim succeeded Solti and served as music director from 1991 until 2006, with Solti transitioning to the post of music director emeritus. Bernard Haitink was named the orchestra's first principal conductor, holding this position from 2006 through 2010. Riccardo Muti was chosen as the tenth music director in the orchestra's history in 2010.

As with other major American orchestras, the Chicago Symphony found itself competing with its own history, especially where recordings are concerned. Reissues of its work under Reiner and Solti continue to sell well and are comparable or superior to the orchestra's current recordings in sound and interpretive detail. Even the early-'50s recordings under Kubelik were reissued by Mercury in the late '90s, while RCA-BMG and some specialty collector's labels have re-released the recordings under Stock. The recordings of Solti and Reiner leading the Chicago Symphony are uniformly excellent, and virtually all of them can be recommended. The orchestra also maintains composer-in-residence and artist-in-residence partnerships; in 2023, Jessie Montgomery occupied the former, and Hilary Hahn the latter. ~ Bruce Eder