MESTER, JORGE

The American conductor JORGE MESTER was born in Mexico City in 1935 to parents who had emigrated from Hungary. He studied conducting with Jean Morel at The Juilliard School in New York, also working with Leonard Bernstein at the Berkshire Music Center, and with Albert Wolff. In 1955 he made his debut conducting the National Symphony Orchestra of Mexico. His opera debut was with Salome in 1960 at the Spoleto Festival in Italy. Since then he has conducted many of the world's leading ensembles, including the Boston Symphony, the Detroit Symphony, and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. In 1967 he became music director of the Louisville Orchestra, noted for its advocacy of new and neglected music. With this orchestra Mester made more than seventy first recordings of works by such composers as Bruch, Cowell, Crumb, Dallapiccola, Ginastera, Granados, Koechlin, Penderecki, Petrassi, Schuller, and Shostakovich. From 1969 to 1990 he was music director of the Aspen Festival and later became its conductor laureate. Mester was appointed music director of the Pasadena Symphony Orchestra in 1983, and in 1998 he added to that post the music directorship of the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra. A noted teacher, he was on the faculty of The Juilliard School for most of the period between 1958 and 1988.

Albums featuring this artist are available for download from ClassicsOnline.com
BLACHER: Orchestral Variations on a Theme by Paganini, Op. 2	FECD-0040
BLISS / RUBBRA / ARNOLD / ADDISON: British Modern, Vol. 1	FECD-1904
COWELL: Ongaku / Symphony No. 11 / Thesis	FECD-0003
CRUMB: Variazioni / Echoes of Time and the River	FECD-0008
GINASTERA: Ollantay / Pampeana No. 3 / Jubilum	FECD-0015
GREAT SONGS OF THE YIDDISH STAGE, VOL. 3	8.559455
HINDEMITH: Kammermusik No. 2 / Concert Music for Viola / Piano Concerto	FECD-0022
HONEGGER / IBERT: Francais Moderne, Vol. 1	FECD-1906
HUSA: Music for Prague 1968 / Apotheosis of this Earth	FECD-0009
IN CELEBRATION OF ISRAEL	8.559461
JEWISH MUSIC OF THE DANCE	8.559439
LEVY: Masada / Canto de los Marranos	8.559427
MARTIN: Violin Concerto / Cello Concerto	FECD-0020
MENNIN: Symphonies Nos. 5 and 6 / Cello Concerto	FECD-0013
MILHAUD: Overture Mediterraneenne / Kentuckiana / Cortege Funebre / Quatre Chansons de Ronsard	FECD-0031
MILLER, Benzion: Cantor Benzion Miller Sings Cantorial Concert Masterpieces	8.559416
PERSICHETTI: Serenade No. 5, Op. 43 / Symphony No. 5, Op. 61 / Symphony No. 8	FECD-0034
PISTON: Serenata / Symphony No. 5 / Symphony No. 7 / Symphony No. 8	FECD-0010
ROREM: Eleven Studies / Piano Concerto	FECD-0021
SCHUMAN: Symphony No. 4 / Prayer in Time of War / Judith	FECD-0011
SURINACH: Melorhythmic Dramas / Symphonic Variations	FECD-0039
TOCH: Miniature Overture / Peter Pan, Op. 76 / Notturno, Op. 77 / Symphony No. 5, Op. 89	FECD-0035
VILLA-LOBOS: Erosao / Danses Africaines / Bachianas Brasileiras	FECD-0016
WEISGALL: T'kiatot / Psalm of the Distant Dove / A Garden Eastward	8.559425
WORLD PREMIERE COLLECTION	FECD-0032