Buchwald, Theo

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BUCHWALD, THEO

BUCHWALD, THEO (1902–1960), conductor. Born in Vienna, Buchwald studied harmony, counterpoint, and composition with Arthur T. Scholz, musicology with Wilhelm Fischer and Guido Adler, and piano with Richard Robert. He began his conducting career at the Barmen–Elberfeld (Wuppertal) in 1922. Later he held conducting positions at the Berlin Volksoper (1923), Magdeburg (1924–26), and Munich (1927–29). He worked under Erich Kleiber at the Berlin State Opera (1929–30), and was director of symphony concerts in Halberstadt until the Nazis came to power in 1933. Reaching South America (Santiago) in 1935, he conducted in Chile and later moved to Peru, where he was entrusted by the government with creating the National Symphony Orchestra in Lima (1938). He was appointed permanent director of the National so, and toured with the orchestra throughout South America for 20 years while serving in this post.

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[Israela Stein (2nd ed.)]