Australian conductor Sir Charles Mackerras (1925-2010)

Sir Charles Mackerras

Conductor Sir Charles Mackerras has died in London of cancer at age 84. Mackerras, known for, among many achievements, as a champion of Leos Janacek and other Czech composers and an authority on the music of Mozart. Sir Charles, a native of Schenectady, New York who was raised in Australia, had many associations with English orchestras and opera companies, including conducting stints with Sadler’s Wells, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the
Sydney Symphony, the Welsh National Opera, the Scottish Chamber
Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Mackerras' lone appearance on the Celebrity Series came as conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra at Symphony Hall in November 1983. The program featured violin soloist Gidon Kremer and flute soloist William Bennett in a program of Rossini, Beethoven (Violin Concerto, Op. 61, D Major), Mozart (Flute Concerto No. 2, D Major) and Haydn. Richard Buell, reviewing for The Boston Globe, wrote of the concert, "Sir Charles Mackerras elicited spruce, alive, revealingly detailed performances of Rossini's L'Italiana in Algieri and Haydn's [Symphony No. 103, (Drum Roll)]."

New York Times (ArtsBeat)

The Sydney Morning Herald

The Australian

The Age

The Guardian (UK)

The Telegraph (UK)

BBC News

Reuters

Tribute to Sir Charles Mackerras (video)

UPDATES:

New York Times (Allan Kozinn)

Washington Post (Ann Midgette)

San Francisco Chronicle (Joshua Kosman)