Kostelanetz, André
Kostelanetz, André
Kostelanetz, Andréhighly successful Russian-born American conductor, uncle of Richard Kostelanetz; b. St. Petersburg, Dec. 22, 1901; d. Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Jan. 13, 1980. He studied at the St. Petersburg Cons. In 1922 he went to the U.S., becoming a naturalized American citizen (1928). He came to prominence as a conductor on the radio; appeared regularly with the CBS Sym. Orch. (from 1930); later enjoyed tremendous success with his own orch. on radio and recordings, making the lush “Kostelanetz sound” and arrangements his trademark. He marriedLily Pons in 1938, but they subsequently were divorced. During World War II, he conducted many concerts for the U.S. armed forces. He later appeared as a guest conductor with leading orchs. in North America, Europe, Israel, and Japan. He also conducted popular concerts in America and in Europe; made successful arrangements of light music, his technique of massive concentration of instrumental sonorities and of harmonic saturation by means of filling in harmonies with inner thirds and sixths having influence upon film music. An intelligent musician, he commissioned special works from American composers, of which the most successful was Copland’s Lincoln Portrait. With G. Hammond, he wrote Echoes: Memoirs of André Kostelanetz (N.Y., 1981).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire