Biography

André Previn

Photo by Lillian Birnbaum / DG

Conductor, composer, and pianist André Previn has received a number of awards and honors for his outstanding musical accomplishments. He continues to redefine the possibilities in his extraordinary career. Mr. Previn is one of the most distinguished musicians of our time. He holds both the Austrian and German Cross of Merit, received the Kennedy Center’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998, was honored as Musical America’s “Musician of the Year” in 1999, and was knighted by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II in 1996. He received the Glenn Gould Prize in Toronto in 2006. Most recently he was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award of the London Symphony Orchestra in May 2008.

Sir André Previn has received several Grammy Awards, most recently in 2005 for the recordings of his violin concerto, Anne-Sophie; and Bernstein’s Serenade, featuring Anne-Sophie Mutter with the Boston and London symphony orchestras.

A frequent guest with the world’s major orchestras—both in concert and on recording—Mr. Previn has worked frequently with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and the Vienna Philharmonic. In addition he has held the chief artistic posts with such orchestras as the Houston Symphony, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Pittsburgh Symphony, and the Royal Philharmonic.

As a pianist Mr. Previn has performed in recital with Renée Fleming at Lincoln Center and Barbara Bonney at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He also teaches annually at the Tanglewood Music Center where he works with student orchestras, conductors, and composers, and enjoys coaching chamber music. He regularly gives chamber music concerts with the Emerson String Quartet, as well as with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, and the Vienna Philharmonic.

Mr. Previn has enjoyed a number of successes as a composer. His first opera, A Streetcar Named Desire, was awarded the Grand Prix du Disque. During the 1999–2000 season, Mr. Previn had new works premiered and recorded by the Vienna Philharmonic (Diversions) and Renée Fleming (The Giraffes Go To Hamburg and Three Songs of Emily Dickinson). Other recent compositions include a work for violin and piano (Tango, Song, and Dance); and his double concerto for violin and double bass, written for Anne-Sophie Mutter and Roman Patkoló. His second opera, Brief Encounter, a commission from the Houston Grand Opera, will be premiered in Houston in May 2009. His double concerto for violin and viola written for Anne-Sophie Mutter and Yuri Bashmet will be premiered in New York later this year.

André Previn records for Deutsche Grammophon. His concert music is published by G. Schirmer, Inc. and Chester Music Ltd.