The Top 75 Conductors #14: Sergiu Celibidache

With recommended recordings

The Top 75 Conductors Series

#14: Sergiu Celibidache

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We have arrived at #14 in our series of the top 75 conductors, and in this spot is the iconic Romanian conductor and composer Sergiu Celibidache. Celibidache was unique in many ways, and even though after a point he refused to make studio recordings, and in fact didn’t want any of his recordings released. Nevertheless, Celibidache had a major influence as a conductor.

Sergiu Celibidache

Sergiu Celibidache (1912 - 1996) (last name pronounced t͡ʃelibiˈdake) was a Romanian conductor, composer, teacher, and theorist (his father was Greek, and his mother was Romanian). He began his education in Romania and then continued later in Paris and Berlin. Celibidache had a long career spanning over 50 years and during that time he spent stints leading the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, RAI National Symphony, Orchestre de Radio France, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Danish National Radio Symphony, the London Symphony Orchestra, and of course the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the orchestra he became most associated with over the final decade of his life. Celibidache strongly believed in the importance of music education, and thus he spent time teaching at several notable music institutions including the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena, Italy, Mainz University in Germany, the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, USA, and at the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival in Germany.