The Austrian-born conductor and composer has died aged 93
Michael Graubart was born in Vienna in 1930 and came to England as a Jewish refugee in 1938. He studied physics at Manchester University, but spent most of his time there composing and playing the flute. He also studied composition with Mátyás Seiber, flute with Geoffrey Gilbert and conducting with Lawrence Leonard, either performing in or conducting various amateur and professional choirs and orchestras.
In 1966 he became a tutor alongside conductor and, from 1969 to 1991, the director of music at Morley College in London, where he developed a performance of 20th century music, taught electronic music composition and conducted premieres, including that of Elisabeth Lutyens’ last opera Isis and Osiris, and the first British production of Viktor Ullmann’s opera The Emperor of Atlantis. From 1962 to 1972 he was the musical director of Focus Opera Group, conducting many British premieres of modern operas and music-theatre works.
© Norbert Meyn
From 1991 to 1996 he was a senior lecturer and director of Akanthos, the contemporary music ensemble at the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. Graubart’s compositions have been performed and broadcast in Britain, the USA, Canada, Austria and Italy. He also edited early music from original sources, including the operas L’Orfeo (Monteverdi) and Livietta e Tracollo (Pergolesi).
In 2019, the Royal College of Music filmed an interview with Graubart about his life and work, which can be watched here.
By Norbert Meyn