Eliahu Inbal is an Israeli conductor, known in Europe as an opera conductor, actively giving concerts even at an old age (now he is 83 years old) and known for his numerous recordings, including full symphonies by many composers, interpretations of later romantic works.
Biography
Born Eliahu on February 16, 1936 in Jerusalem, in Mandatory Palestine under British rule.
After graduation, he received his musical education at the Israel Academy of Music in the direction of violin. One of his teachers was Paul Ben-Haim, an Israeli composer, conductor and music teacher, a prominent founder of the musical culture of Israel.
Subsequently, he continued his studies at the Paris National Conservatory of Music and Dance. Inbal's teachers were the famous French music teachers Louis Fourier, Olivier Messiaen and Nadia Boulanger, who instilled in him a love of music.
It is worth noting that Leonard Bernstein himself sent Inbal to the conservatory - the then famous popularizer of academic music, composer, pianist and conductor, who heard Inbal's playing and recognized him as a talented musician. Leonard Bernstein not only sent Eliaha to study in Paris, but also from his own funds awarded him a scholarship to complete his studies.
In parallel with his studies at the Paris Conservatory, he took private lessons from the German conductor Sergiu Celibidache and the Italian conductor Franco Ferrara in Hilvesurme, a town in the north of Holland. Subsequently, many critics noted in Eliach the clear role features of Celibidake and Ferrara: the power of calm, the ability to create unbridled passion and dramatic effect.
Conducting career and creativity
At the age of 26 (1963) he won the Guido Cantelli International Conducting Competition, held in Italy every 2 years from 1961 to 1980.
After such a prestigious victory, the doors of all Italian orchestras opened for Eliach, with many of which he collaborated for a long time and fruitfully.
In 1965, Inbal made his debut as conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Eliahu quickly achieved success, received a number of engagements in the UK and received British citizenship in addition to his Israeli one.
In 1974, Inbal accepts an offer to lead the Frankfurt (Hesse) Radio Symphony Orchestra, one of the most famous German symphony orchestras based in Frankfurt am Main.
At the head of this orchestra, Inbal recorded all the symphonies of the Austrian composer Gustav Mahler, performed a number of symphonic works by another Austrian composer Anton Bruckner in their author's versions. For them, Eliahu received prestigious awards from critics: the German "Jahrespreis der deutchen Schallplatten-Kritik" and the French "Grand Prix de Dicque". These awards became a symbol of Inbal's services to Austrian musical culture: before him, no one had recorded Bruckner's works.
Since 1984, Inbal has led two orchestras at the same time: the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra and the La Fenice Venetian Opera Orchestra.
In 1989, he left the post of chief conductor at La Fenice, and in 1990 he stopped working with the German Symphony Orchestra. The Germans commended the Israeli conductor and in 1990 awarded him the title of Honorary Conductor of the Radio Frankfurt Symphony Orchestra.
After a short creative break, in 1995 he was appointed Chief Conductor of the Italian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Turin. Collaboration with this group allowed Inbal to compose the operatic theater of Richard Wagner.
Since 2001 he has been working for the Berlin Symphony Orchestra, which he headed until 2006. Over the years of his work in Berlin he recorded all Shostakovich's symphonies with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, several works by the Hungarian composer Bela Bartok, a number of symphonic poems by Richard Strauss with the leading Symphony Orchestra of Romanesque Switzerland. The recording of Shostakovich's symphonies with Inbal's interpretations made him popular in the world of academic music.
From 2008 to 2014 he worked as Principal Conductor of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.
From 2009 to 2012 he was the Chief Conductor of the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.
Wagner's jubilee year 2013 was marked by Inbal's performances with the Tristan and Isolde symphony at the La Coruña Opera Festival and the Parsifal symphony at the Flemish Opera. Eliahu Inbal was awarded the 2014 International Opera Prize and the Italian critic Abbiati and Viotti's national award for his exceptional interpretation of Wagner's Ring in collaboration with the Italian National Radio Symphony Orchestra.
From 2003 to 2011, he regularly took part in music festivals in the Rheingau, where he performed all eight complete Bruckner symphonies, as well as the unfinished Ninth Symphony at the head of the WDR Cologne Symphony Orchestra.
In April 2019, Inbal visited Russia for the first time, where he gave several concerts in St. Petersburg. Immediately after visiting Russia, Eliahu embarks on a summer tour of Japan with the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. The tour ends with Eliahu's participation in the Berlin Festival and the Nnternational Brukner Festival in Linz.
In March 2019, it was announced that Eliahu Inbal would lead the Taipei Symphony Orchestra as Chief Conductor. The contract is concluded for three years. It is planned that Inbal will give his first concert at the head of the new team in October 2019. This will be Mahler's Eighth Symphony.
Future plans
In November 2019, Inbal plans to give three Shostakovich concerts in Tokyo.
In 2020, Eliahu will perform Bruckner's 5th Symphony at La Scala, Italy. After that, he will go on tour at the head of the Symphony Orchestra of Southwestern Germany. During the tour, performances will be given in Beijing, Guangzhou, Monte Carlo, as well as at the International Festival of Music and Canarian Language.
Awards
1990 - Honorary Conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.
Also in the same year, the French government awarded Inbal with the rank of officer of the Order of Arts and Letters.
In February 2001 - the gold medal "For Merit" from the city of Vienna.
2006 - Goethe Badge of Honor in Frankfurt and the Order of Merit from the Federal Republic of Germany.
In 2014, upon completion of his contract with the Tokyo Orchestra, Eliahu was awarded the honorary title of Conductor-Laureate of the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.
