Czech conductor, violinist, composer and director conductor of Czech philharmony

Rafael Kubelík

Intro
Czech conductor, violinist, composer and director conductor of Czech philharmony
Record Labels
Awards Received
Recipient of the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, 1st class
Léonie Sonning Music Prize
Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres
Order of the British Empire
Bavarian Order of Merit
Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Royal Philharmonic Society Gold Medal
Honorary citizenship of Brno
Honorary citizen of Prague
Member of, past and present

Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts

Rafael Kubelík

Rafael Jeroným Kubelík, KBE (29 June 1914 – 11 August 1996) was a Czech-born Swiss conductor and composer.

Son of a well-known violinist, Jan Kubelík, he was trained in Prague, and made his debut with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 19. Having managed to maintain a career in Czechoslovakia under the Nazi occupation, he refused to work under what he considered a "second tyranny" after the Communist Czechoslovak coup d'état of 1948, and took refuge in Britain. He became a Swiss citizen in 1967.

Kubelík was music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1950–53), musical director of The Royal Opera, Covent Garden (1955–58), and music director of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra (1961–79), and was a frequent guest conductor for leading orchestras in Europe and America.

As a composer, Kubelík wrote in a neo-romantic idiom. His works include five operas, three symphonies, chamber music, choral works, and songs.