CASSUTO, ALVARO Álvaro Cassuto is Portugal’s foremost conductor. Having conducted many of the world’s leading orchestra, he was
Music Director of the Portuguese National Radio Symphony Orchestra (1970-89), the University of California
Symphony Orchestra at Irvine (1974-79), the Rhode Island Philharmonic (1979-85), the National Orchestra of New
York (1981-86), the Nova Filarmonia Portuguesa (1988-93), the Portuguese Symphony Orchestra (1993-99), the
Israel Raanana Symphony Orchestra (2000-2002), and of the Algarve Orchestra (2002-05). Currently, he is Artistic
Director of the Lisbon Metropolitan Orchestra. Born in Oporto, very early he established himself as one of
Portugal’s most promising composers of the avant-garde. He studied in Berlin with Herbert von Karajan and in
Hilversum with Franco Ferrara, and obtained his conducting degree in Vienna, one year after graduating in Law
from the University of Lisbon. In 1968 he established himself in New York. He was invited by the legendary
Leopold Stokowski to be assistant conductor of the American Symphony Orchestra and after his début at Avery
Fischer Hall in 1969, he was awarded the coveted Koussevitzky Prize at Tanglewood by Erich Leinsdorf. In Europe,
he guest conducted the London Symphony Orchestra and the City of London Sinfonia, both at the Barbican Centre
as well as in CD recordings, the Royal Philharmonic and the London Philharmonic Orchestra, both on tour to Portugal,
the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester and on tour, and he regularly conducts in cities such as Berlin, Brussels,
Munich, Leipzig, Prague, Copenhagen, Weimar, Athens, Milan, St Petersburg, Moscow, Madrid, Paris, Rio de
Janeiro, among many others. In the United States, where he spent eighteen years, Álvaro Cassuto guest conducted dozens of orchestras, among them the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Oklahoma Symphony, the San Antonio
Symphony, the Colorado Festival Orchestra, and in many cities such as Boston, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and San
Francisco. He made his operatic début with Verdi’s Otello at Lisbon’s São Carlos National Theatre, of which he was
artistic director from 1980 to 1981. He has conducted many Portuguese premières, and made over 25 recordings
with the Nova Filarmonia Portuguesa alone, and embarked on an important recording project of music by
Portuguese composers for Marco Polo and Naxos.
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