Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal Mourns Loss of Maestro Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos

The Orchestre symphonique de Montréal is saddened to learn of the passing of Maestro Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, music director of the Orchestra from 1975 to 1976.

"We feel a sense of great sadness following the death of Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos, music director of our Orchestra from 1975 to 1976," stated OSM chief executive officer Madeleine Careau. "Maestro de Burgos fought his illness bravely, wishing to practice his art until the last moment, and brought his musical activities to a definitive close just one week ago. On behalf of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal and myself, we extend our sincerest condolences to his family members and his friends. His presence at the OSM was brief but significant: it was under his direction that the Orchestra played its first concert at New York's Carnegie Hall, and Maestro de Burgos also undertook a European tour at the head of OSM, the third in the Orchestra's history on this continent."

At the request of Pierre Béique, Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos accepted the position of music director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal for the 1975-1976 season. His first visit with the Orchestra dates from March 1967, in a program that contained a much-admired interpretation of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring. After a long absence from the OSM, he returned in February 2009 with a performance of two suites from The Three-Cornered Hat by Manuel de Falla, a composer with whom his name was long associated. Also on the program were works by Respighi and Weber, and the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto with Anne-Sophie Mutter as soloist.

His last appearance with the OSM took place in 2012, on May 22 and 23, in a program featuring arias by Mozart, Wagner, Beethoven and Richard Strauss sung by soprano Deborah Voigt, along with Rimsky-Korsakov's Scheherazade.