British orchestra conductor, was born Giovanni Battista Barbirolli in Bloomsbury, London, on Dec. 2, 1899.
Education
Barbirolli first studied the violin, then the cello. At eleven he received a scholarship at Trinity College of Music, London, continued his studies at the Royal Academy, London, between 1912 and 1917, as associate and fellow, and then became a fellow of Trinity College.
Career
His first public performance was the solo part of Saint-SaënsSaint-Saens Cello Concerto in A Minor, in Queens Hall, London, in 1911. At sixteen Barbirolli was a member of the Queens Hall Orchestra, London. During World War I he was a lance corporal in the British Army. From 1920 to 1924 he was cellist of the International String Quartet, and in 1925 founded the Barbirolli Chamber Orchestra, which was widely heard; this was the beginning of his professional conducting. Barbirolli conducted the British National Opera Company in 1926, appearing first in Newcastle. In 1927 he was guest conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Society concerts. He was conductor of the International Opera Company at Covent Garden, London, from 1927 until 1933 and for the coronation season in 1937. He conducted the Scottish Orchestra of Glasgow and the Leeds Symphony from 1933 to 1936. In 1936 Barbirolli was chosen to be the first permanent conductor for the New York Philharmonic since 1921. He held this position until 1943, when he became permanent conductor of the HalléHalle Orchestra of Manchester, England. In 1963 he replaced Leopold Stokowski as conductor and artistic director of the Houston Symphony, but remained connected with the HalléHalle Orchestra.
Connections
His father was Italian, his mother French.