Chmura, Gabriel

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Chmura, Gabriel

Chmura, Gabriel, Polish-born Israeli conductor; b. Wroclaw, May 7, 1946. His family emigrated in 1955 to Israel, where he studied piano, theory, and composition at the Tel Aviv Academy of Music. He then studied conducting with Dervaux in Paris (1968), Ferrara in Siena (1969), and Swarowsky in Vienna (1969–71). He won the Gold Medal at the Cantelli Competition in Milan and first prize at the Karajan Competition in Berlin in 1971; he subsequently served as Karajan’s assistant until 1973. He was Generalmusikdirektor in Aachen (1974–82) and of the Bochum Sym. Orch. (from 1982), and appeared throughout Europe as a guest conductor, making his North American debut with the N.Y. Phil, in 1980. From 1987 to 1990 he was principal conductor and music director of the National Arts Centre Orch. in Ottawa.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire