The Three Greatest Living Classical Music Conductors Within the last 25 years, some of the greatest names in classical music conducting have set down their batons permanently. Within a span of ten years in the late eighties and early nineties, we lost names like Bernstein, Karajan, and Solti. But in spite of this, even now, there are great classical conductors still alive and productive. And among the best of them are Simon Rattle, Bernard Haitlink, and Claudio Abbado.
Simon Rattle: Born in Liverpool in the U.K. in 1955, Rattle was the son of Commander in the Royal Navy. In school, he played the violin and and piano but specialized in percussion instruments with the first orchestras he played in. In 1971, he entered the Royal Academy of Music, studying under John Carewe and winning the John Player Conductor Competition in his graduating year. He went on to Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra where he served as an assistant conductor, and in 1987 he became the principal conductor for the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Rattle is best known for his renditions of Mahler, particularly the Second Symphony, and has focused on 19th and 20th century composers in general. Currently, he is the conductor of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra in England.
Bernard Haitink: Haitink was born in Amsterdam in 1929. He did his studies at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, also known as the “conservatoire”. In his career, he has conducted for the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Dresden Staatskapelle. Unlike Rattle, Haitink has covered a wide variety of composers in terms of era, ranging from the Baroque period’s Beethoven to the 20th century English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams. Haitink has also worked extensively in opera, including a tenure from 1987 to 2002 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Although he still performs as a guest conductor from time to time, he is not currently with any particular orchestra, having notably declined an offer to become the music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, saying, “every conductor, including myself, has a sell-by date.”
Claudio Abbado: In 1933, Abbado was born to a violinist mother and a composer father in Milan, Italy. He received his musical education at the Milan Conservatory, after which he went to the Vienna Academy of Music to study under Hans Swarowsky. After breaking into music, he spent his first 18 years from 1968 to 1986 with La Scala in his native Milan where he was music director. He has also been the lead conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, and has also guest conducted for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Like Rattle, Abbado is well known for his versions of Mahler, and has also shown a fondness for other composers of the Romantic period. Abbado has not conducted in several years, due to the stomach cancer he was diagnosed with in 2000, which required doctors to remove part of his digestive tract.
