Some very sad news to report today. While rehearsing and preparing for the annual Castleton Festival, Conductor Lorin Maazel, has succumbed to complications following pneumonia this morning in his home in Castleton Farms, Virginia. Maazel was 84 years old.
He had only just appeared at the opening night of the Castleton Festival on June 28, before the opening of “Madame Butterfly,” which he was scheduled to, but was unable to conduct. He was reported as looking frail, and incapable of supporting himself fully. This was his last public appearance.
A major loss, and a conductor, many will never forget.
Lorin Maazel conducting the New York Philharmonic in Beethoven’s Egmont Overture:
Michael Vincent