Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos

Conductor

Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos (born Rafael Fruhbeck Fruhbeck, 15 September 1933, Burgos) is a Spanish conductor and composer.

Fruhbeck studied violin, piano, and composition at the conservatories of Bilbao and Madrid. He graduated summa cum laude from the Hochschule fur Musik in Munich in conducting and won the Richard Strauss Prize.

Fruhbeck has served as music director of the Rundfunkorchester Berlin, the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and chief conductor of the Bilbao Orchestra and the Vienna Symphony, as well as being principal guest conductor for numerous orchestras in Europe, the United States, and Japan. He made his American debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra. From 1980 to 1983 he was principal conductor of Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra of Tokyo, of which he is now an honorary conductor.

From 2001 to 2007, Fruhbeck was principal conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra. He became music director of the Dresden Philharmonic in 2004. In January 2011, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra announced the appointment of Fruhbeck as the Creative Director of its Masterworks Series of concerts, starting with the 2011-2012 season. In February 2011, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra announced the appointment of Fruhbeck as its next principal conductor, as of the 2012-2013 season, with an initial contract of 3 years through 2015.

Fruhbeck has recorded on a number of labels. Especially noteworthy are his performances of Felix Mendelssohn's Elijah, the Mozart Requiem, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, Georges Bizet's Carmen, and the complete works of Manuel de Falla. Fruhbeck has orchestrated a suite from Isaac Albйniz's Suite espaсola and conducted the New Philharmonia Orchestra in a commercial recording of this arrangement. His work in contemporary music has included conducting the world premiere production of Gian Carlo Menotti's opera Goya.