Michael Graubart Explained

Michael Graubart (26 November 1930 – 10 June 2024) was an Austrian-born British conductor, composer and academic, born in Vienna and exiled after the Anschluss. He lived and worked in London and Manchester for the rest of his life.

Graubart was born into an Austrian Jewish family. Following the murder of his uncle Richard Graubart in 1938^[1] the family escaped to the UK by train.^[2] He studied physics at the University of Manchester University, graduating in 1952, and worked as an electronics engineer for EMI for several years. After that he taught mathematics, physics and music at various schools and colleges.^[3]

Musical career

After studying composition with Mátyás Seiber, flute with Geoffrey Gilbert and conducting with Lawrence Leonard, Graubart became a teacher and conductor at Morley College and was appointed head of department in 1969 when John Gardner retired, staying there until 1991.^[4] He began conducting various professional and amateur choirs and orchestras, including the Hampstead Chamber Orchestra from 1962 until 1966.^[5] From 1962 to 1972 he was also musical director of the Focus Opera Group. In 1969 he conducted the world premiere of the opera Isis and Osiris by Elisabeth Lutyens,^[6] and conducted the British premiere of Viktor Ullmann's opera The Emperor of Atlantis in 1981.^[7]

In 1991 Graubart was appointed senior lecturer at the Royal Northern College of Music, where he directed the new music ensemble Akanthos. He published articles and reviews in musical journals including Composer, Encounter, Tempo^[8] and The Musical Times and edited early music, including operas by Monteverdi and Pergolesi.

He retired from full-time teaching in 1996 but continued to lecture and to compose orchestral, chamber, instrumental and choral music.^[9] As a composer he adopted the Viennese 12-note tradition using clear motifs and themes, sometimes incorporating electronics. His works include the orchestral piece Aria (1973), and a string quartet (2000), which has been performed by the Arditti Quartet and others.^{[10] [11]}

Graubart died in London on 10 June 2024, at the age of 93.^[12]

See also

• List of émigré composers in Britain

External links

• Video interview with Michael Graubart, Royal College of Music
• Quasi una Sonata: Mosaic - Chiasmus für Klavier, (1978), performed by Rafał Mokrzyckí

Notes and References

1. Thomas Albrich (ed.): The perpetrators of the 1938 pogrom against the Jews in Innsbruck, Innsbruck: Haymon (2016)
2. https://www.rcm.ac.uk/singingasong/oralhistorycategory1/michaelgraubart/ Michael Graubart. Royal College of Music
3. https://www.classicalmusicdaily.com/articles/g/m/michael-graubart.htm Michael Graubart. Biography at Classical Music Daily
4. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/cb2bf8dafd9b4aa79176e4d8549d4faa Music at Morley, BBC Radio 3, 22 August, 1974
5. 'Graubart, Michael', in The Oxford Dictionary of Music, 6th. ed. (2012)
6. Rhiannon Mathias. Lutyens, Maconchy, Williams and Twentieth-Century British Music (2016), p. 197
7. Michael Graubart, "The Emperor of Atlantis: The First British Production", The Musical Times, Autumn 2009.
8. for instance, 'Schoenberg's String Quartets', in Tempo, 2004-07, Vol.58, No. 229, p. 41–46
9. https://britishmusiccollection.org.uk/composer/michael-graubart List of works, British Music Collection
10. https://musicians.directory/profile-michael-graubart Musicians Directory profile
11. https://genome.ch.bbc.co.uk/c9c95cb35a8249eabf36364c864bbca9 Hear and Now, BBC Radio 3, Sat 12th April 2008
12. Florence Lockheart. 'Conductor Michael Graubart Dies Aged 93', in Classical Music, 4 July 2024.