Charles Bruck

Charles Bruck (1911-1995) was for twenty-six years Master Teacher of the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors and Orchestra Musicians in Hancock, Maine, where he mentored hundreds of conductors who now lead orchestras and opera companies all over the world.

Born in Timisoara, Hungary (now Romania), Bruck studied at the Vienna Conservatory and then in France, where he was one of Pierre Monteux’s first conducting students in Paris. In 1936, simultaneous to earning the degree Doctor of Laws from the University of Paris, he was appointed associate conductor of the Paris Symphony Orchestra. Bruck went on to lead the Netherlands Opera, the Strasbourg Radio Symphony and the Paris Radio Philharmonic (ORTF). Following World War II, he was made an officer in the French Legion of Honor for his work in the Resistance.

A noted champion of contemporary composers and their music, Bruck conducted world-wide, leading over seven-hundred premieres by such diverse composers as Prokofiev, Poulenc, Martinu, Xenakis and Stockhausen. Bruck recorded for Columbia, Deutsche Grammaphon, Erato and EMI. Most famous among his many discs are the historic first recording of Prokofiev’s opera, The Flaming Angel, and Gluck’s Orfeo, with the legendary Kathleen Ferrier.

Bruck made his U.S. conducting debut in 1936 and later guest-conducted many American orchestras. He served as Director of Orchestral Activities at the Hartt School of the University of Hartford in the early 1980s and was a visiting professor at Princeton University in 1992. Charles Bruck died in Hancock, Maine on July 16, 1995 and was buried in Jerusalem.

Source: Muse of Fire