Landau, Siegfried

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Landau, Siegfried

Landau, Siegfried, German-born American conductor and composer; b. Berlin, Sept. 4, 1921. He studied at the Stern Cons, and at the Klindworth-Scharwenka Cons, in Berlin. He continued his studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and at Trinity Coll. of Music in London (1939–40). He then pursued conducting studies at the Mannes Coll. of Music in N.Y. (diploma, 1942), and also received conducting lessons from Monteux. In 1946 he became a naturalized American citizen. In 1955 he organized the Brooklyn Philharmonia, which he conducted until 1971. Concurrently he was conductor of the Chattanooga Opera Assn. (1960–73) and of the Music for Westchester (later White Plains) Sym. Orch. (1961–81); likewise served as Generalmusikdirektor of the Westphalian Sym. Orch. (1973–75). He wrote an opera, The Sons of Aaron (Scars-dale, N.Y., Feb. 28, 1959), ballet music, orch. pieces, chamber music, and film scores.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire