ABRAVANEL, MAURICE

ABRAVANEL, MAURICE (de) (1903–1993), conductor. Born in Salonika, Abravanel studied at Lausanne University, and in Zurich and Berlin. He began his career in 1924 as conductor at the Zwickau Municipal Theater. Before leaving Germany in 1933, he had already conducted at the Berlin Opera, and subsequently he conducted ballet performances in Paris, London, and at the Rome Opera. He toured Australia with the British National Opera Company before moving to the United States in 1936, where he conducted at the Metropolitan (1936) and in Chicago (1940–41). In 1946, he conducted musicals such as weill 's Lady in the Dark for a season on Broadway. In 1947, he became conductor of the Utah State Symphony Orchestra at Salt Lake City, which he made into one of the most adventurous and remarkable musical bodies in the United States based in a small city. Abravanel was also a professor at the University of Utah. (Max Loppert (2nd ed.)