| Biography | Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos (born Rafael Frühbeck Frühbeck, 15 September 1933, Burgos) is a Spanish conductor and composer. The surname Frühbeck de Burgos is his artist name which includes the name of his city of birth.
Frühbeck de Burgos studied violin, piano, and composition at the conservatories of Bilbao and Madrid. He graduated summa cum laude from the Hochschule für Musik in Munich in conducting and won the Richard Strauss Prize.
Frühbeck de Burgos has served as music director of the Rundfunkorchester Berlin, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, artistic director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra and chief conductor of the Bilbao Orchestra and the Vienna Symphony, as well as being principal guest conductor for numerous orchestras in Europe, the United States, and Japan. He made his American debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra. From 1980 to 1983 he was principal conductor of Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo, of which he is now an honorary conductor.
From 2001 to 2007, Frühbeck de Burgos was principal conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra. He became music director of the Dresden Philharmonic in 2004. In January 2011, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra announced the appointment of Frühbeck de Burgos as the Creative Director of its Masterworks Series of concerts, starting with the 2011-2012 season. In February 2011, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra announced the appointment of Frühbeck de Burgos as its next principal conductor, as of the 2012-2013 season, with an initial contract of 3 years through 2015.
Frühbeck de Burgos has recorded on a number of labels. Especially noteworthy are his performances of Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah, the Mozart Requiem, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, Georges Bizet's Carmen, and - from his native Spanish repertoire - the complete works of Manuel de Falla, as well a classic series of complete zarzuela recordings.[3] Frühbeck has orchestrated a suite from Isaac Albéniz's Suite española and conducted the New Philharmonia Orchestra in a commercial recording of this arrangement. His work in contemporary music has included conducting the world premiere production of Gian Carlo Menotti's opera Goya |