Birkitts Books presents ... First and Lasting Impressions: Julius Rudel Looks Back on a Life in Music (Eastman Studies in Music) ISBN: 1580464343 Author: Julius Rudel, Julius; Paller, Rebecca Publisher: University of Rochester Press Release Date: 2013-03-01 Seller Category: Biography Qty Available: 1 Condition: Used: Very Good Sku: 250414003 Notes: Jacket has light wear, binding sound, internally clean. As a seventeen-year-old Jewish boy, Julius Rudel escaped from Austria after the Nazi invasion and moved to New York, where he began his career as an unpaid musical assistant and worked his way up through the ranks of the newly formed New York City Opera, being named general director and principal conductor of the company in 1957. Later, he became the first artistic director of the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. In his twenty-two-year leadership of New York City Opera, Rudel challenged audiences with new and unusual repertoire?including fifteen world premieres and three seasons consisting entirely of American operas?turning the popularly priced "People's Opera" into the most influential and daring opera company in the United States. Rudel writes in detail of his unusual repertoire choices and of the political battles behind New York City Opera's move to Lincoln Center in 1966, and he reminisces about his legendary collaborations with Beverly Sills (on Handel's Giulio Cesare and Donizetti's "Three Queens") and Plkido Domingo (on Ginastera's Don Rodrigo)?and about his work with other extraordinary talents including Norman Treigle, Phyllis Curtin, William Ball, Frank Corsaro, Tito Capobianco, Leopold Stokowski, Leonard Bernstein, Harold Prince, and Gian Carlo Menotti. First and Lasting Impressions gives a rare personal look into Julius Rudel's career as a conductor and administrator during the glory years of New York City Opera. Don't forget to check out other great deals in our Store!!