Antonio de Almeida (20 January 1928 – 18 February 1997) was a Frenchconductor andmusicologist of Portuguese-American descent.
Born Antonio Jacques de Almeida Santos in Neuilly-sur-Seine near Paris,[1] his father was the financier Baron de Almeida Santos of Lisbon, his mother was the former Barbara Tapper ofHighland Park near Chicago. His godfather was pianistArthur Rubinstein.
De Almeida was born inNeuilly-sur-Seine. As a child he studiedpiano, showing great musical talent (although he admitted he was not an exceptional pianist). In the early 1940s, he taught himself to play theclarinet by listening to recordings ofBenny Goodman andArtie Shaw. When his family moved toBuenos Aires he studied withAlberto Ginastera,[1] and he had the opportunity to hear performances conducted by notable European refugees at theTeatro Colón.[2] He studiednuclear chemistry at theMassachusetts Institute of Technology. Leading a student orchestra there, he realized he was more interested in music than in science. His godfather, pianistArtur Rubinstein, convinced him to give up his full scholarship at M.I.T. He attendedYale University, where he studied musical theory withPaul Hindemith.[3] He received his Bachelor of Music degree at Yale in 1949. He took conducting courses withSergei Koussevitzky andLeonard Bernstein at theTanglewood Music Center, and also studied conducting withGeorge Szell. During his student days, he played first horn atTufts College, first bassoon atHarvard, oboe with the Wellesley Orchestra, clarinet atMIT and the cello atYale.[2]
De Almeida began conducting for Portuguese Radio inLisbon in 1949, and soon after was appointed to his first conducting post at the Oporto Symphony Orchestra. While there, he invitedSir Thomas Beecham to guest conduct the orchestra. He was the conductor of the Portuguese Radio in Lisbon (1957–1960) andStuttgart Philharmonic (1962–1964).[3] He gave the Paris premiere ofIl Trittico at theOpéra-Comique in 1964,[2] and worked at theOpéra National de Paris from 1965 to 1967. He was principal guest conductor of theHouston Symphony (1969–1971) and then music director of theOrchestre philharmonique de Nice (1971–1978).[1] He gave the Argentinian premiere ofMahler's 7th Symphony in Buenos Aires.[2] He became the music director of theMoscow Symphony Orchestra in 1993, a position he held at his death.
In 1960, De Almeida made his American debut with the opening of the eighth subscription season of New York'sAmerican Opera Society atThe Town Hall. He led theSymphony of the Air in a concert version ofChristoph Willibald Gluck'sOrfeo ed Euridice. New York Times reviewerHarold C. Schonberg wrote of the conductor "He knows his business. Cool, not flamboyant of gesture, capable, he held the performance together as nicely as one would desire". He also wrote that "Mr. de Almeida is a conductor to watch". In the UK he conductedIdomeneo with theEnglish Bach Festival in 1990.[3]
He made numerous recordings, specializing in French operas such asAmbroise Thomas'Mignon andHamlet, andFromental Halévy'sLa Juive.[3] His recordings were instrumental in restoring compositions ofErnest Chausson,Henri Duparc,Florent Schmitt andJules Massenet to the active repertory. He recorded ballet music from the operas ofGaetano Donizetti,Gioachino Rossini, andGiuseppe Verdi. With the Moscow Symphony he recorded orchestral works of, among others,Charles Tournemire,Henri Sauguet, andGian Francesco Malipiero. He recorded for many labels, includingPhilips,RCA,Columbia,EMI,Erato,Naxos, andSupraphon.
An interest in the works ofJacques Offenbach began in the 1950s, and by the 1970s Almeida was known as an authority. He made numerous discoveries including previously unknown arias and a second-act finale forLa Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein. He prepared editions of Offenbach's operas, and compiled a Thematic Catalogue of the Works of Jacques Offenbach and was general editor of an Offenbach publication project for Belwin Mills.[3] He also edited works byMonsigny,Grétry andDelibes.[3]
He became co-artistic director (withH.C. Robbins Landon) of the Haydn Foundation in 1968. Under the Foundation's auspices, he recorded a set ofJoseph Haydn's symphonies. He also edited a complete set ofLuigi Boccherini's symphonies for Doblinger in Vienna.
He was married to Lynn Erdman in 1953, their marriage ending in divorce in 1988. The couple had two sons (Antonio de Almeida Santos and Lawrence d'Almeida) and a daughter (Cecilia de Almeida Frachesen). His son Antonio, a Juilliard and Academy of Vocal Arts trained opera singer, worked as classical record producer and served as a producer and engineer for some of the conductor's Moscow Symphony recordings.
Despite his Portuguese/American parentage, he declared his nationality to be French, and he remained a citizen of France throughout his life. He spoke six languages fluently, and was well versed in Greek and Latin.
He died of liver and lung cancer on 18 February 1997, age 69, at theUniversity of Pittsburgh Medical Center.
