Leo Blech.

Leo Blech (21 April 1871 – 25 August 1958) was a German opera composer and conductor who is perhaps most famous for his work at the Königliches Schauspielhaus (later the Berlin State Opera (Staatsoper Unter den Linden) from 1906 to 1937, and later as the conductor of Berlin's Städtische Oper from 1949 to 1953. Blech was known for his reliable, clear, and elegant performances, especially of works by Wagner, Verdi, and Bizet's Carmen (which he conducted over 600 times), and for his sensitivity as an accompanist.

Early life and education[link]

Blech was born to a Jewish family in Aachen, Rhenish Prussia. After attending the Hochschule in Berlin where he studied piano with Ernst Rudorff and composition from Woldemar Bargiel he took private lessons with Engelbert Humperdinck.

Career[link]

After working briefly in sales, Blech earned a position as conductor at the Stadttheater Aachen in 1893. From 1899 to 1906, he conducted at the Neues Deutsches Theater in Prague, before moving to the Königliches Schauspielhaus in Berlin. In 1913 he was promoted to General Music Director. Between 1923 and 1926, Blech took various positions at opera houses in Berlin and Vienna, including the Deutsches Opernhaus, the Volksoper Berlin, and the Vienna Volksoper. In 1926 he returned to the Schauspielhaus, now called the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, where he remained until Adolf Hitler's anti-semitic policies forced him in 1937 into exile in Riga, where he was conductor of the Latvian National Opera and Ballet Theatre.

With an eye to the substantial German and foreign reputation of Blech Hermann Göring issued an order to major Karl Heise, head of the Schutzpolizei in Riga from September 1941, to issue an exit visa for Blech for neutral Sweden - making Blech the only Jewish survivor of Riga to escape by such high level intervention.^[1]

During and after World War II, Blech conducted at the Royal Opera, Stockholm. In 1949 he returned to Berlin to conduct at the Städtische Oper, where he worked until 1953. One of his pupils, conductor Herbert Sandberg, married his daughter Lisel.

Compositions[link]

• Aglaja (opera, 1893)
• Cherubina (opera, 1894)
• Rappelkopf (opera, unperformed)
• Gavotte for cello and piano Op.10b 1902
• Das war ich (opera, Dresden 1902, text from R. Batka)
• Alpenkönig und Menschenfeind (reworking of opera from Raimund, Dresden 1903)
• Aschenbroedel (opera, Prague 1905)
• Versiegelt (opera, Hamburg 1908)
• Die Strohwitwe (operetta, Hamburg 1920)
• Von den Englein (female chorus)
• Sommernacht

Blech also composed orchestral works, choral works, chamber works, and songs.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Free scores by Leo Blech at the International Music Score Library Project

Simon Rattle
Conducting the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in 2006
Born	(1955-01-19) 19 January 1955 (age 57) Liverpool, England
Alma mater	Royal Academy of Music, London
Occupation	Conductor of classical music (active 1970–present)
Known for	Conductor of Berlin Philharmonic, and City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
Spouse	Elise Ross (1980–1995) Candace Allen (1996–?) Magdalena Kožená (2008–present)
Website
www.simonrattle.co.uk

Sir Simon Denis Rattle, CBE (born 19 January 1955) is an English conductor. He rose to international prominence as conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and since 2002^[1] has been principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic (BPO).

Early life[link]

Rattle was born in Liverpool, the son of Pauline Lila Violet (Greening) and Denis Guttridge Rattle, a Commander in the Royal Navy.^[2] He was educated at Liverpool College. Although Rattle studied piano and violin, his early work with orchestras was as a percussionist. He entered the Royal Academy of Music, University of London in 1971. There, his teachers included John Carewe. In 1974, his graduation year, Rattle won the John Player Conductor Competition. After organising and conducting a performance of Mahler's Second Symphony whilst still at the Academy, he was talent-spotted by the music agent Martin Campbell-White, of Harold Holt Ltd. (now Askonas Holt Ltd.), who has since managed Rattle's career.^[3] He spent the academic year 1980/81 at St Anne's College, Oxford studying English Language and Literature.^[4] He had been attracted to the college by the reputation of Dorothy Bednarowska, Fellow and Tutor in English.^[5] He was elected an Honorary Fellow of St Anne's in 1991.^[6] He was admitted to the degree of Doctor of Music honoris causa of the University of Oxford in 1999.^[7]

UK career[link]

In 1974, he was made assistant conductor of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. His first Prom at the Royal Albert Hall, conducting the London Sinfonietta, was, according to the BBC Proms Archive web-site, on 9 August 1976. The programme included Harrison Birtwistle's Meridian and Arnold Schoenberg's First Chamber Symphony. In 1977 he became assistant conductor of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic.

His time with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (CBSO) from 1980 to 1998 drew him to the attention of critics and the public. In 1980, Simon Rattle became the CBSO's Principal Conductor and Artistic Adviser, and in 1990, Music Director. Rattle increased both his profile and that of the orchestra over his tenure. One of his long-term concert projects was the series of concerts of 20th century music titled "Towards the Millennium". One other major achievement during his time was the move of the CBSO from its former venue, Birmingham Town Hall, to a newly built concert hall, Symphony Hall, in 1991. The BBC commissioned film director Jaine Green to follow him in his final year with the CBSO to make Simon Rattle—Moving On.

Rattle was awarded a CBE in 1987 and made a Knight Bachelor in 1994. In 1992, Rattle was named a Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment (OAE), along with Frans Brüggen. Rattle now has the title of Principal Artist with the OAE. In 2001, Rattle conducted the OAE at Glyndebourne in their first production of Fidelio with a period-instrument orchestra.^[8]

Rattle strongly supported youth music. He led two attempts at gaining the record for the World's Largest Orchestra, both designed to raise awareness of youth music in schools. The first, in 1996, was unsuccessful. The second, in 1998, did succeed and the record held at nearly 4,000 musicians^[9] until it was broken in 2000 by a group in Vancouver.^[10]

In May 2006 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Society of Arts. In 2011, the Royal Academy of Music presented him with an Honorary Doctorate.

Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra[link]

Rattle made his conducting debut with the Berlin Philharmonic (BPO) in 1987, in a performance of Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 6. In 1999, Rattle was appointed as successor to Claudio Abbado as the orchestra's principal conductor.^[11] The appointment, decided on in a 23 June vote by the orchestra's members, was somewhat controversial, as several members of the orchestra were earlier reported to have preferred Daniel Barenboim for the post.^[12] Nevertheless, Rattle won the post and proceeded to win over his detractors by refusing to sign the contract until he had ensured that every member of the orchestra was paid fairly, and also that the orchestra would gain artistic independence from the Berlin Senate.^[13]

Before leaving for Germany and on his arrival, Rattle controversially attacked the British attitude to culture in general, and in particular the artists of the Britart movement,^[14] together with the state funding of culture in the UK.^[15]

Since his appointment, Rattle has reorganised the Berlin Philharmonic into a foundation, meaning its activities are more under the control of the members rather than politicians. He has also ensured that orchestra members' wages have increased quite dramatically, after falling over the previous few years.^[16] He gave his first concert as principal conductor of the BPO on 7 September 2002, leading performances of Thomas Adès' Asyla and Mahler's Symphony No. 5, performances which received rave reviews from the press worldwide^[17] and were recorded for CD and DVD release by EMI. Early collaborative projects in the Berlin community with Rattle and the BPO involved a choreographed performance of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring and a film project with Mark-Anthony Turnage's Blood on the Floor.^[18] He has also continued to champion contemporary music in Berlin.^[19] The orchestra has established its first education department during Rattle's tenure.^[20]

Criticism of Rattle's tenure with the Berlin Philharmonic began to appear after their first season together,^[21] and continued in their second season.^[22] Rattle himself stated in 2005 that his relationship with the BPO musicians could sometimes be "turbulent", but also "never destructively so".^[23]

In 2006, a new controversy began in the German press as to the quality of Rattle's concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic, with criticism from the German critic Manuel Brug in Die Welt.^[24] One musician who wrote to the press to defend Rattle was the pianist Alfred Brendel.^[25] In 2007, the BPO/Rattle recording of Brahms's Ein deutsches Requiem received the Classic FM Gramophone best choral disc award.^[26]

Rattle was originally contracted to lead the BPO through 2012, but in April 2008 the BPO musicians voted to extend his contract as chief conductor for an additional ten years past the next season, to 2018.^[27]

UNICEF appointed Rattle and the BPO as Goodwill Ambassadors in November 2007.^[28]

Conducting in North America[link]

Rattle made his North American debut in 1976, conducting the London Schools Symphony Orchestra at the Hollywood Bowl. He first conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic (LA Phil) in 1979 during the music directorship of Carlo Maria Giulini, and was their Principal Guest Conductor from 1981–1994.^[29] He also guest-conducted the Cleveland Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, San Francisco Symphony, Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and Boston Symphony Orchestra. His New York City debut was with the LA Phil in 1985.

In 1993, Rattle made his conducting debut with The Philadelphia Orchestra.^[30] He returned for guest conducting engagements in 1999^[31] and 2000.^[32] The musical relationship between Rattle and The Philadelphia Orchestra was reported to be such that Philadelphia wanted to hire Rattle as its next music director after Wolfgang Sawallisch, but Rattle declined.^[33] However, Rattle continues to guest-conduct with The Philadelphia Orchestra, including appearances in 2006^[34] and the Philadelphia Orchestra's first performances of Robert Schumann's Das Paradies und die Peri in November 2007.^[35][36]

Musical styles and recordings[link]

Rattle has conducted a wide variety of music, including some with period instruments (musical instruments whose design is similar to that of instruments commonly in use at the time the piece was composed - or the actual historical instrument itself), but he is best known for his interpretations of late-19th and early 20th century composers such as Mahler, with a recording of Mahler's Second Symphony winning several awards on its release^{[citation needed]} and being regarded by some music critics^[who?] as Rattle's finest recording to date. He has also championed much contemporary music, an example of this being the TV series Leaving Home, where he presents a 7-part survey of musical styles and conductors with excerpts recorded by the CBSO. His newest recordings with the Berlin orchestra (as of 2006) have, on the whole, been favourably received, notably his recordings of the Dvořák tone poems, Mahler's Symphony No.9 and Debussy's La Mer. The Gramophone Magazine praised the latter as a "magnificent disc" and drew favourable comparisons with interpretations of the piece by Rattle's immediate predecessors, Claudio Abbado and Herbert von Karajan. He has also worked with the Toronto Children's Chorus. Rattle and the BPO also recorded Holst's Planets (EMI), which was the BBC Music Magazine Orchestra Choice. In addition, Rattle's acclaimed ^[37] complete 1989 recording of George Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess was used as the soundtrack for the equally acclaimed ^[38][39] 1993 television production of the work. It was the first made-for-television production of Porgy and Bess ever presented. Rattle's 2007 recording of Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem received praise from BBC Music Magazine, as "Disc of the Month" for April 2007, "as probably the best new version of the Requiem I've heard in quite some years." Rattle and the BPO have also released recordings of Bruckner's Fourth Symphony, Romantic, and Haydn's Symphonies Nos. 88-92 and Sinfonia concertante, and Mahler's Ninth Symphony.

Simon Rattle's recording of Brahms' Ein deutsches Requiem with the BPO received the Choral Performance Grammy Award in 2008. He has won two other Grammy Awards, one Choral Performance Award for a recording of Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms in 2007, and another for Best Orchestral Performance, for a recording of Mahler's unfinished Symphony No. 10 in 2000.^[40]

He was voted into the inaugural Gramophone Hall of Fame in 2012.^[41]

Personal life[link]

Rattle's first marriage was to Elise Ross, an American soprano, with whom he had two sons; Sacha, who is a clarinetist, and Eliot, who is a painter.^[42] They were divorced in 1995 after 15 years of marriage. In 1996 he married his second wife,^[43] Candace Allen, a Boston-born writer.^[44] This second marriage ended after Rattle began a relationship with the Czech mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kožená, whom he married in 2008.^[45] Kožená and Rattle have two sons, Jonas and Milos.

Rattle is a fan of Liverpool F.C.^[46]

Books[link]

• Kleinert, Annemarie (2009). Music at its Best: The Berlin Philharmonic. From Karajan to Rattle. Norderstedt: BoD. ISBN 978-3-8370-6361-5. http://www.bod.de/index.php?id=296&objk_id=211012#. 
• Kenyon, Nicholas (1987) Simon Rattle: The Making of a Conductor. Faber and Faber. ISBN 0-571-14670-8.

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Simon Rattle official website
• Berliner Philharmoniker website
• Simon Rattle Recordings on EMI Classics
• Website of the film and education project "Rhythm is it!
• The Planets microsite
• Simon Rattle on Charlie Rose
• Simon Rattle collected news and commentary at The New York Times
• Works by or about Simon Rattle in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Phillipa Ibbotson, "He won't play the game". Essay from The Guardian, 19 June 2006.
• Norman Lebrecht, "Rattle has a battle on his hands". La Scena Musicale, 23 August 2006.
• Ed Vulliamy, Simon Rattle: bringing Berlin home to Liverpool, The Observer, 31 August 2008
• Television Interview with Simon Rattle from C Music TV.
• theartsdesk Q&A interview, 30 July 2010

Seiji Ozawa (小澤 征爾, Ozawa Seiji^?, born September 1, 1935) is a Japanese conductor, particularly noted for his interpretations of large-scale late Romantic works. He is most known for his work as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera.

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Seiji Ozawa was born on September 1, 1935 to Japanese parents in the city of Mukden, Manchukuo (now Shenyang, China). When his family returned to Japan in 1944, he began studying piano with Noboru Toyomasu, heavily studying the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. After graduating from the Seijo Junior High School in 1950, Ozawa sprained his finger in a rugby game. Unable to continue studying the piano, his teacher at the Toho Gakuen School of Music^[1] (Hideo Saito), brought Ozawa to a life-changing performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 5, which ultimately shifted his musical focus from piano performance to conducting.^[2]

International success[link]

Almost a decade after the sports injury, Ozawa won the first prize at the International Competition of Orchestra Conductors in Besançon, France.^[3] His success in France led to an invitation by Charles Münch, then the music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, to attend the Berkshire Music Center (now the Tanglewood Music Center). In 1960, shortly after his arrival, Ozawa won the Koussevitzky Prize for outstanding student conductor, Tanglewood's highest honor. Receiving a scholarship to study conducting with famous Austrian conductor Herbert von Karajan, Ozawa moved to West Berlin. Under the tutelage of von Karajan, Ozawa caught the attention of prominent conductor Leonard Bernstein. Bernstein then appointed him as assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic where he remained for the next four years.^[3] While with the New York Philharmonic, he made his first professional concert appearance with the San Francisco Symphony in 1962.^[4]

In December 1962 Ozawa was involved in a controversy with the prestigious Japanese NHK Symphony Orchestra when certain players, unhappy with his style and personality, refused to play under him. Ozawa went on to conduct the rival Japan Philharmonic Orchestra instead.^[5] From 1964 to 1971, Seiji Ozawa served as the first music director of the Ravinia Festival, the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

He was music director of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra from 1965 to 1969 and of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra from 1969 to 1976. In 1972, he led the San Francisco Symphony in its first commercial recordings in a decade, recording music inspired by William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. In 1973, he took the San Francisco orchestra on a European tour, which included a Paris concert that was broadcast via satellite in stereo to San Francisco station KKHI. He left San Francisco after a dispute with a players committee over granting tenure to two young musicians Ozawa had selected. From 1977 to 1979, he was the resident conductor for the Singapore Philharmonic Orchestra. He returned to San Francisco as a guest conductor, including a 1978 concert featuring music from Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake.

Boston Symphony Orchestra[link]

Between the years of 1964 and 1973, he directed various orchestras until he became music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1973. His tenure at the BSO was maintained for 29 years, the longest tenure of any music director, surpassing the 25 years held by Serge Koussevitzky.^[4] Ozawa won his first Emmy Award in 1976, for the Boston Symphony Orchestra's PBS television series, "Evening at Symphony." In 1994, the BSO dedicated its new Tanglewood concert hall "Seiji Ozawa Hall" in honor of his 20th season with the orchestra. In 1994, he was awarded his second Emmy for Individual Achievement in Cultural Programming for "Dvořák in Prague: A Celebration."^[4]

An effort to merge all-Japanese orchestras and performers with international artists, Ozawa, along with Kazuyoshi Akiyama, founded the Saito Kinen Orchestra in 1992. Since its creation, the orchestra has gained a prominent position in the international music community.^[2] In the same year, he also made his debut with the Metropolitan Opera in New York. He has additionally conducted the Berlin Philharmonic and Vienna Philharmonic on a regular basis. Ozawa can be seen in concert with the New Japan Philharmonic, the London Symphony, the Orchestre National de France, La Scala in Milan and the Vienna Staatsoper.

Ozawa caused controversy from 1996–1997 with sudden demands for change at the Tanglewood Music Center, which caused Gilbert Kalish and Leon Fleisher to resign in protest.^[6] Toward the end of Ozawa's tenure, he received strong criticism from the American critic and composer Greg Sandow, which led to controversy in the Boston press.^[7] Other critical commentary on Ozawa's tenure in Boston has been aired. Ozawa left the position in 2002.^[8]

Premiering 20th century classical music[link]

Ozawa has been an advocate of 20th century classical music, giving the premieres of a number of works including György Ligeti's San Francisco Polyphony in 1975 and Olivier Messiaen's opera Saint François d'Assise in 1983. He is noted to have somewhat of a photographic memory, as he is able to memorize the scores of large works such as the Mahler Symphonies.

Recent years[link]

In 2001, Ozawa was recognized by the Japanese government as a Person of Cultural Merit.^[9]

In 2002, he continued to follow in Herbert von Karajan's footsteps, as he became principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera. Ozawa continues to play a key role as a teacher and administrator at the Tanglewood Music Center, the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer music home that has programs for young professionals and high school students.

On New Year's Day 2002, Ozawa conducted an all-Strauss concert with the Vienna Philharmonic, programming the concert so it would have a nice flow and keep everyone's interest as they ushered in the New Year.^[10] In 2005, he conducted the Tokyo Opera Nomori's debut of Richard Strauss’ Elektra. Ozawa has received a significant amount of criticism, especially from Boston music critic Greg Sandow, as he reports that some BSO members claim that Ozawa gives "no specific leadership in matters of tempo and rhythm", providing no "expression of care about sound quality."^[7] Despite the criticism, Ozawa serves a musical role model: an Asian performer who has not only attained fame in the West but has also devoted his life to fostering a global community within classical music.^[2]

On February 1, 2006, the Vienna State Opera announced that he had to cancel all his 2006 conducting engagements because of illness, including pneumonia and shingles. He returned to conducting in March 2007 at the Tokyo Opera Nomori.^[11]

Ozawa stepped down from his post at the Vienna State Opera in 2010, to be succeeded by Franz Welser-Möst.^[12]

In October 2008, Ozawa was honored with Japan's Order of Culture; and an awards ceremony for the Order of Culture will be held at the Imperial Palace.^[13] He is a recipient of the 34th Suntory Music Award (2002) and the International Center in New York's Award of Excellence.

On January 7, 2010, Ozawa announced that he was canceling all engagements for six months in order to undergo treatments for esophageal cancer. The doctor with Ozawa at the time of the announcement said it was detected at an early stage.^[14][15]

He returned to work on July 26, 2010,^[16] but promptly suffered further setbacks with a lumbar hernia. In August 2011 he conducted Bartok's Blubeard's Castle with the Saito Kinen orchestra in Matsumoto, prior to a tour of China. After a single, successful performance, he withdrew once more with pneumonia.^[17] Doctors were hopeful of a prompt recovery.

Honorary degrees[link]

Seiji Ozawa holds honorary doctorate degrees from Harvard University, the New England Conservatory, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and Wheaton College.

Personal style[link]

Ozawa became famous not only for his conducting mannerisms, but also his sartorial style: he wore the traditional formal dress with a white turtleneck rather than the usual starched shirt, waistcoat, and white tie.

Awards and honors[link]

• 1958: Toho School of Music: 1st Prize in conducting and composition
• 1959: International Competition of Orchestra Conductors, Besançon, France
• 1960: Koussevitzky Prize for Outstanding Student Conductor, Tanglewood
• 1976: Emmy for "Evening at Symphony"
• 1992: Hans von Bülow Medal (given by the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra)
• 1994: Emmy for "Dvořák in Prague"
• 1994: Inouye Award, Japan
• 1998: Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur, France
• 2001: Membership in the Academic des Beaux-Arts de l'Institut de France (Given by French President Jacques Chirac)
• 2001: Person of Cultural Merit, Japan
• 2002: Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art, First Class (Given by Austrian President Thomas Klestil)
• 2003: Mainichi Art Award and Suntory Music Prize
• 2004: Honorary Doctorate from the Sorbonne University of France
• 2008: Order of Culture, Japan
• 2011: Praemium Imperiale, Japan

Recording labels[link]

• Sony BMG
• RCA Victor
• Philips
• Deutsche Grammophon
• Universal Music Group
• EMI Classics
• Teldec

Bibliography[link]

• Seiji: An Intimate Portrait of Seiji Ozawa (Hardcover) by Lincoln Russell (Illustrator), Caroline Smedvig (Editor) ISBN 0-395-93943-7

References[link]

External links[link]

• Seiji Ozawa at Allmusic
• Sony Classical: Seiji Ozawa
• The Jack Robinson Archives, images of Ozawa
• Decca Classics, biography of Ozawa
• Seiji Ozawa Says Farewell, NPR, July 14, 2002
• International Music Academy – Switzerland
• Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood
• (English) Productions Internationales Albert Sarfati (France Management) : Seiji Ozawa

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (November 2010)

Phil Manzanera
Manzanera, in Sydney, Australia, February 2011
Background information
Also known as	Phil Manzera
Born	(1951-01-31) 31 January 1951 (age 61) London, England
Genres	Art rock, glam rock, pop rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, Producer
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1971–present
Associated acts	Quiet Sun, Roxy Music, John Wetton, Andy Mackay, David Gilmour
Website	Official website
Notable instruments
Gibson Firebird

Phil Manzanera (born Philip Geoffrey Targett-Adams, 31 January 1951, London, England) is a musician and record producer. He is the lead guitarist with Roxy Music.^[1][2][3][4] In 2006 Manzanera co-produced David Gilmour's album On An Island and played in Gilmour's band for tours in Europe and North America. He wrote and presented a series of 14 one-hour radio programmes for station Planet Rock entitled The A-Z of Great Guitarists and his instrumental album, Firebird V11, was released in 2008.

Early years (1951–1970)[link]

Manzanera was born in London to a Colombian mother and an English father, and spent most of his childhood in different parts of the Americas, including Hawaii, Venezuela, Colombia and Cuba. It was in Cuba that the young Manzanera, aged six, encountered his first guitar, a Spanish guitar owned by his mother. His earliest musical accomplishments were Cuban folk songs inspired by the Cuban Revolution.

In Venezuela the eight-year-old Manzanera started experimenting with the sounds of the electric guitar. During his teenage years he was absorbing the twin influences of 1960s rock and roll and Latin American rhythms of merengue music, cumbia, and particularly the boleros of the Mexican Armando Manzanero.

In his late teens Manzanera — then a boarder at Dulwich College in south east London, England — formed a series of school bands with his friends Bill MacCormick, later a member of Matching Mole and Random Hold, MacCormick's brother Ian (better known as music writer Ian MacDonald) and drummer Charles Hayward, later of This Heat. Among the younger students at the school who saw the older boys performing in these various bands were Simon Ainley (later in 801), David Ferguson and David Rhodes; Ainley was briefly the lead vocalist for 801 in 1977, and all three were members of the late-'70s progressive group Random Hold; Rhodes subsequently became a long-serving member of Peter Gabriel's backing band.

The final incarnation of Manzanera's Dulwich College bands - a psychedelic outfit dubbed Pooh & The Ostrich Feathers - evolved into the progressive rock quartet Quiet Sun with the addition of keyboard player Dave Jarrett. They wrote a number of original songs and instrumental pieces, none of which were recorded until years later, and the band broke up when McCormick joined Matching Mole, but Manzanera briefly revived the group in 1975 to record a full LP of their original music during the making of his first solo album Diamond Head; later he included two other previously unrecorded Quiet Sun tracks on his 2008 album Firebird VII, which also featured Charles Hayward.

Roxy Music (1971–1983)[link]

Manzanera in 1973

Manzanera was determined to join a professional band, and in October 1971 he was one of about twenty players who auditioned as lead guitarist for the recently formed art rock band, Roxy Music. Manzanera displayed a wide-ranging interest in music. Influenced by his childhood sojourns in Latin America, and his stints at boarding school, he came to know several prominent musicians including Soft Machine's Robert Wyatt and Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, who was a friend of his older brother.

Although the group were impressed with his abilities, Manzanera lost out to David O'List, former guitarist with UK prog rock combo The Nice, although Roxy did offer him work as their roadie. However a few months later O'List quit the band abruptly after an onstage altercation with drummer Paul Thompson, during the band's audition for David Enthoven of EG Management.^{[citation needed]} Manzanera was invited to the next rehearsal on the pretext of becoming their sound mixer but was asked to stand in on guitar. Unbeknownst to the rest of the group, he had secretly learned their entire repertoire^{[citation needed]} and as a result he was immediately asked to become O'List's permanent replacement, joining on 14 February 1972.

His bandmates at this time were Bryan Ferry, Brian Eno, Paul Thompson and Andy Mackay. Roxy Music's rise was meteoric, with the band being hailed as a major stylistic influence of the early 1970s. During the next 12 years, until 1983 when the band members went on a "long break", Roxy Music released a series of internationally best-selling albums, achieving ten UK Top Ten albums and touring extensively throughout the world. Although Ferry had sole writing credit on the first two LPs, and his work writing dominated the group's output, Manzanera was credited as co-writer with Ferry on the following Roxy Music songs:

• "Amazona" (Stranded, 1973)
• "Out of the Blue" and "Prairie Rose" (Country Life, 1974)
• "Whirlwind" and Nightingale" (Siren, 1975),
• "Manifesto", "Still Falls The Rain" and "My Little Girl" (Manifesto, 1979)
• "Oh Yeah", "No Strange Delight" and "Running Wild" (Flesh & Blood, 1980)
• "Take a Chance with Me" (Avalon, 1982)

In parallel with Roxy Music, Manzanera has always pursued solo projects, both recording his own albums and producing for others. His first major credit as producer was in 1975; after spotting the New Zealand group Split Enz, who had supported Roxy on their 1974 Australian tour, Manzanera produced the group's second LP, which was recorded in London.

All his previous solo albums have been digitally remastered and re-released with new artwork on his own label, Expression Records.

Solo work and collaborations (1975–2001)[link]

As a writer, producer and solo artist, Phil Manzanera has worked with many of the luminaries of modern music, such as Steve Winwood, David Gilmour, John Cale, Godley & Creme, Nico and John Wetton. He has co-written material with many artists, including Brian Eno, Tim Finn, Robert Wyatt and Gilmour. Manzanera co-wrote Pink Floyd's single "One Slip" from their 1987 A Momentary Lapse of Reason album.

Manzanera's first solo album Diamond Head (1975) featured an all-star lineup of session contributors, including most of the former and current members of Roxy Music, except Bryan Ferry. Brian Eno co-wrote and sang on two tracks ("Big Day" and "Miss Shapiro"), Paul Thompson, Eddie Jobson and Andy Mackay all contributed, and Roxy's occasional tour bassist John Wetton (ex Family, and then a member of King Crimson) played bass and duetted on vocals (with Doreen Chanter on "Same Time Next Week". Robert Wyatt co-wrote and sang (in Spanish) on "Frontera", and the members of Manzaera's pre-Roxy group Quiet Sun featured on the instrumental tracks. Concurrent with the recording of Diamond Head, Manzanera reunited Quiet Sun (who had not been able to make any professional recordings) and used the studio time to quickly record a full LP of Quiet Sun material, released by EG Records under the title Mainstream.

Reworked versions of two tracks from Mainstream featured on Manzanera's next major collaboration, the critically acclaimed concert recording 801 Live, which was recorded at a 1976 London show performed by the "special occasion" band 801. The group comprised Manzanera, with Eno on vocals, synth and treatments, Quiet Sun bassist Bill McCormick, Curved Air keyboardist Francis Monkman, 19-year-old drumming prodigy Simon Phillips, and slide guitarist Lloyd Watson, who had previously performed as a solo support act for Roxy Music. The LP featured an eclectic mix of Manzanera, Quiet Sun and Eno originals, alongside distinctive cover versions of two well-known tracks, The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" and The Kinks' "You Really Got Me". The album also broke new ground in live concert recording, being one of the first live LPs to use the "direct injection" (DI) method of recording, in which the signals from the various electric intruments were fed directly into the recording console, enabling a dramatic improvement in fidelity over the earlier method of placing microphones near the various instrument amplifiers.

The success of the live album led to the creation of a more permanent incarnation of 801, without Lloyd Watson. Manzanera's old schoomate Simon Ainley (who was later a member of Random Hold with Bill McCormick) took over from Eno as lead vocalist, who only provided treatements and textures. Francis Monkman, Bill and Ian McCormick and Simon Phillips became part of an all-star session group that also included Tim Finn and Eddie Rayner of Split Enz (who had by then relocated to the UK), former 10cc members Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, saxophonist Mel Collins, Roxy Music's Eddie Jobson and drummer Dave Mattacks. The 'new' 801 recorded the studio album Listen Now, was released in November 1976, although according to Ainley the initial recordings had begun in December 1975, well before the original concert lineup of 801 was put together. The studio LP was not a commercial success and the group disbanded after a short UK tour. A live performance at Manchester University in Nov. 1977, with Ainley on vocals and guitar, and appearances by special guests Andy McKay, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme, was recorded on 24-track tape, but the recording remained unreleased until 1997.^[5]

Manzaera's second solo album K-Scope (1978) was originally intended to be the second 801 studio album, and indeed it featured featured many of the same personnel from Listen Now, including Ainley, Bill and Ian McCormick, John Wetton, Simon Phillips, Mel Collins, Tim and Neil Finn, Eddie Rayner, Godley and Creme, and keyboard player Dave Skinner. According to Ainley, he was slated to perform the lead vocal tracks, and he contributed to the composition of the track "Slow Motion TV", but by his own account he had a severe cold the day he began recording his vocals and couldn't hit the notes; as a result Manzanera replaced him with Tim Finn, and Ainley contributed only rhythm guitar to a couple of tracks. The LP was eventually released under Manzanera's name, but shortly after it was released Roxy Music reformed, and Manzanera's solo projects were put on hold until the group disbanded again in 1982.

His third solo album Primitive Guitars (1982) marked his tenth anniversary as a professional musician. It was intended as a retrospective of his musical influences and stylistic growth, interpreted through a series of solo pieces that represent various stages in his life - childhood in South America, adolescence in London, his work in Roxy Music and 801, and other projects. Manzanera plays all the instruments, backed only by a drum machine, except for one track that features John Wetton on bass. In between tracks, Manzanera inserted snatches of dialogue recorded at various rehearsals.^[6]

In the 1990s Manzanera performed in concerts all over the world, including at Guitar Legends, the five-day guitar festival in Seville, where he was musical director for the event as well as playing with Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Jack Bruce, Vicente Amigo, Dave Edmunds, Joe Satriani, Steve Cropper, Aterciopelados, Robert Cray and Richard Thompson. He has also played in Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, Spain, France, Italy and the UK, including a ten-date European tour with the Cuban band Grupo Moncada. He played at WOMAD festivals in South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Manzanera ended the 20th Century by appearing with Bryan Ferry at the British Gas Millennium Concert at Greenwich, the first time they had performed together in 18 years. Manzanera produced in 1993 the highly acclaimed album Severino from the Brazilian rock band Os Paralamas do Sucesso, which included a participation by Brian May.

Firebird VII (2008) was another all-instrumental album, recorded with a 3-piece backing group that included his old Quiet Sun bandmate Charles Hayward on drums, Polish jazz pianist Lezek Mozdzer and bassist Yaron Stavi from the Gilad Atzmon band. It includes two original Quiet Sun tracks, written in 1970, which had never been previously recorded.^[7] As the title indicates, the album is a tribute to, and feature for, Manzanera's signature guitar, the red-and-black Gibson Firebird VII guitar which he has played throughout his career - he can be seen holding the guitar in the "centrefold" photograph on Roxy Music's second album For Your Pleasure in 1972, and a photographically distorted image of it was used on the cover of Primitive Guitars.

Roxy Music reunion and later work (2001–present)[link]

Manzanera during a concert in Munich, 2006

The Roxy Music "long break" came to an end in 2001 with a critically acclaimed, sold-out, 52-date world tour. In the summer of 2003 Roxy played 10 dates in the US, followed by 13 European gigs in 2004, including performing at Live 8 in Berlin.

Manzanera has a state-of-the-art studio, Gallery Studios, in West London. The first recording was Robert Wyatt's album Cuckooland, and the client list also includes Brian Eno, David Gilmour, Annie Lennox, Kevin Ayers, and Chrissie Hynde. Wyatt's critically acclaimed album, Comicopera, was recorded at Gallery in 2007.

Manzanera began singing on his own albums with Vozero in 2001, followed by 6pm in 2004 and 50 Minutes Later in 2005. He appeared at The Strat Pack celebration concert at Wembley Arena in 2005, alongside other musicians such as Hank Marvin, Ronnie Wood and David Gilmour.

He also collaborated with Eno and David Byrne on 2008's Everything That Happens Will Happen Today.

Between 2003 and 2008 he collaborated with Colombian artist/sculptor Lucho Brieva on the Corroncho project. The project sprang from a Spanish version of the track Complicada, written by Brieva's wife Chrissie Hynde. The resulting album comprises a set of songs about two corroncho characters (corroncho being the pejorative name given by people from Bogota to fellow Colombians from the Caribbean Coast, particularly Barranquilla. The album includes the musical styles of salsa, cumbia, pop music, ballads and chillout and has guest appearances from Robert Wyatt, Paul Thompson, Enrique Bunbury, Chrissie Hynde, Annie Lennox, Quimi Portet, Gilad Atzmon, and one of Cuba’s top pianists Aldo Lopez Gavilan.^[8]

Other efforts[link]

• Phil Manzanera co-produced David Gilmour's album On An Island. Manzanera also played rhythm guitar on Gilmour's world tour to support the album in 2006 and appears in Gilmour's concert films Remember That Night and Live in Gdańsk.

• Manzanera appears briefly playing a guitar solo in Red Dwarf series 6 episode "Psirens". Only his hands appeared playing the guitar, and his credit on the Internet Movie Database lists his role as "Hands of Psiren Lister".^[9] On screen he is credited as "the hands of Phil Manzanera".

Selected discography[link]

1975-1982[link]

• 1975 Diamond Head
• 1975 Quiet Sun: Mainstream
• 1976 801 : 801 Live
• 1977 801 : Listen Now
• 1977 801 : Live at Manchester University
• 1978 K-Scope
• 1982 Primitive Guitars
• 1986 Guitarissimo (Compilation: 1975 - 1982)
• 2000 Rare One (rarities during 1975-1991)
• 2000 801 : Liva at Hull (live in 1977)

1985-1992[link]

• 1985 The Explorers(Manzanera & Mackay) : The Explorers (later aka The Complete Exploer in 2001)
• 1986 Wetton Manzanera : One World
• 1988 Nowomowa - The Wasted Lands
• 1988 Manzanera & Mackay : Crack the Whip
• 1989 Manzanera & Mackay : Up in Smoke
  • 1991 Manzanera & Mackay : Manzanera & Mackay (compilation above two albums)
•  ?(1997) The Explorers : Live at the Palace
• 1990 Southern Cross(aka A Million Reasons Why)
• 1990 Phil Manzanera & Sérgio Dias : Mato Grosso
• 1991 Manzanera & Tania Libertad : Boleros Hoy
• 1992 Manzanera Moncada : Live at the Karl Marx, Havana

1999-present[link]

• 1999 Vozero
• 2001 801 : 801 Latino
• 2004 6PM
• 2005 50 minutes later
• 2008 Firebird V11
• 2010 Corroncho

As producer[link]

• John Cale: Fear (1974)
• Split Enz: Second Thoughts (1976)
• Heroes del Silencio: "Senderos de Traición" (1990)
• Tania Libertad: "Boleros Hoy" (1991)
• Nina Hagen: Revolution Ballroom (1993)
• Heroes del Silencio: "El Espíritu del Vino" (1993)
• Os Paralamas do Sucesso: Severino (1994)
• Fito Páez: Circo Beat (1994)
• Aterciopelados: La Pipa de la Paz (1996)
• Robi Draco Rosa: "Vagabundo" (1996)
• Enrique Bunbury: "Radical Sonora" (1997)
• David Gilmour: On an Island (2006)
• Enrique Bunbury: "Hellville deluxe" (2008)
• The Hall Effect: The Hall Effect (2010)

References[link]

External links[link]

• manzanera.com: Phil Manzanera's home page, Expression Records and the Roxy Music Archive
• Viva Roxy Music Site about Manzanera's work with Roxy Music and his solo work, collaborations and sessions

This biographical December 2009 needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (December 2009)

Alex Jacobowitz

Alex Jacobowitz (born 19 May 1960 in New York) is a classically-trained street performer who plays the marimba and xylophone.^[1]

New York[link]

During the 1980s and 1990s he played in New York City, including at the Lincoln Center's^[1] "Meet the Artist" program, Yeshiva University, Zabar's, Central Park, the 84th Street Synagogue, International House, the New York Hilton, Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Coney Island's "Sideshows by the Seashore". He was an Official Street Performer at the South Street Seaport in Lower Manhattan, a member of Musicians Under New York, and Young Audiences of Rochester. He has performed at Arts Councils and Imagination Celebrations throughout New York State. He has performed on Entertainment Tonight, and has been an artist-in-residence at Artpark (New York) and Holland Village (Japan).

Europe[link]

In 1991, he moved to Europe, mainly performing in Germany,^[2] and living in Berlin. Jacobowitz performed classic and Jewish traditional music on German television (ARD, ZDF, Third Programmes), and occasionally in Hungary, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, South Korea, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, Russia and Ukraine. In 2006, he was invited to perform at the Busker's Festival in Ferrara, Italy.

Klezmer[link]

In 1994, he began the study of traditional Jewish instrumental music (klezmer) with Giora Feidman. In 1997, he saw Brave Old World in concert, and trained under Alan Bern, their musical director.

Solo klezmer appearances include festivals in Jerusalem, Schleswig-Holstein, Safed, Kraków, Fürth, Bamberg, synagogues throughout Germany, including Oranienburgerstrasse Synagogue in Berlin, chabad houses in Prague, Geneva, Zürich, the Jewish Museum in Frankfurt, Hackescher Hoftheater in Berlin, Kibbutz Nahal Oz, Kibbutz Ma'ale HaChamisha, and settlement Mitzpe Jericho.

He has performed with Shelly Lang's Neshoma Orchestra (NYC), the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and the Berlin Kammerphilharmoniker.

Awards[link]

He is the recipient of a Meet the Composer award. His Art of Xylos CD was released in 2002 by Sony-BMG^[3] under the Arte Nova label, and was nominated for the Echo Prize under the crossover category. He won competitions in Montreal (1981), Lucerne (1994), Ludwigsburg (2004) and Osnabrück (2007).

Recordings[link]

• ¡Marimba! - Bach, Beethoven, Couperin. Analogue. (1986)
• Aria - Classical works by Bach, Beethoven, Mozart, Scarlatti, Albéniz, Tárrega. Digital. (1995)
• The Art of Touching Wood - the music of J.S. Bach. Digital. (1996)
• Spanish Rosewood - the music of Spain: D. Scarlatti, Granados, Tárrega, Albéniz, etc. Digital (1997)
• Etz Chaim (Tree of Life) - Jewish traditional: Synagogue music, Yiddish and Israeli songs, klezmer. Digital (1998)
• The Art of Xylos - de Falla, J.S. Bach, Tárrega, Mussorgsky, Schumann, Beethoven, Mozart, Satie, etc. Surround (2002) BMG Entertainment
• Fantasy - the music of J.S. Bach. Surround (2006)

Film appearances[link]

• Heavenly Sounds (צלילים לאלהים) - Dir. Idit Gideon, Channel 2, 1991, Israel
• Spielmänner - Bayerischer Rundfunk, 1995, Germany
• Denk ich an Deutschland...: Ein Fremder. - Dir. Peter Lilienthal, 2001, Germany
• Magic Marimbas - Dir. Eveline Hempel, Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk, 2003, Germany
• Klezmer on Fish Street - Dir. Yale Strom, independent, 2004, USA
• Da Spielt die Musik - Dir. Benedikt Kuby, Bayerischer Rundfunk, 2005, Germany
• Auf jüdischem Parkett - Dir. Esther Slevogt & Arielle Artsztein, Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen, Germany, 2005
• Klezmer in Germany - Dir. Caroline Goldie & Krzysztof Zanussi, BBC, WDR, Czech TV. England & Germany, 2007
• Jewish Blues - Dir. Marian Marzynski, PBS, USA, 2011
• Married to the Marimba - Dir. Alan Rosenthal & Larry Price, independent, Israel, 2011
• Held der Strasse (working title) - Dir. Sigrid Faltin, SWR, German Television, July 2012

References[link]

1. ^ ^{a b} "Mit dem Xylofon um die Welt" (in German). NDR. 1 October 2007. http://www3.ndr.de/sendungen/kulturjournal/archiv/musik_und_theater/kj774.html. Retrieved 15 December 2009. 
2. ^ Berman, Robby (8 June 1998). "The Marimba Man of Munich". The Jerusalem Report. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/jrep/access/443724061.html?dids=443724061:443724061&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT&type=current&date=Jun+08%2C+1998&author=Robby+Berman&pub=The+Jerusalem+Report&desc=The+Marimba+Man+of+Munich&pqatl=google. Retrieved 15 December 2009. 
3. ^ "Alex Jacobowitz - The Art of Xylos". Song Music Austria. http://www.sonymusic.at/Alex-Jacobowitz/The-Art-Of-Xylos/P/228184. Retrieved 15 December 2009. 

• A Classical Klezmer: Travel Stories of a Jewish Musician, by Alex Jacobowitz. Tree of Life, Munich, 1998. ISBN 3-00-003226-6

External links[link]

• Alex Jacobowitz's web site