[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 127 (Monday, September 8, 2014)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1333-E1334]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             COMMEMORATING THE LIFE OF MAESTRO LORIN MAAZEL

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. ROBERT HURT

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                       Monday, September 8, 2014

  Mr. HURT. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of myself and Representative Carolyn 
Maloney, Representative Mike Doyle, and Representative Marcia Fudge, I 
submit these remarks to commemorate the life of Maestro Lorin Maazel, 
who passed away July 13, 2014 at the age of 84.
  An American born in Paris in 1930, Maazel quickly became a child 
prodigy, beginning violin lessons when he was just five years old. At 
age seven, Arturo Toscanini invited him to conduct the NBC Symphony, 
and only five years later, he debuted at the New York Philharmonic. He 
conducted nearly all of the major American orchestras before he was 15 
years old. At the age of 16, he began studying philosophy, language, 
and mathematics at the University of Pittsburgh, while also playing 
violin with the Pittsburgh Symphony to help pay his tuition.
  He would go on to conduct more than 150 orchestras in at least 5,000 
opera and concert performances during his career and make over 300 
recordings. Maazel was the Artistic Director of the Deutsche Oper 
Berlin and the General Manager of the Vienna State Opera. He also 
served as the Music Director for the Cleveland Orchestra for 10 years, 
the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for eight years, the Bavarian Radio 
Symphony Orchestra for nearly ten years, and the New York Philharmonic, 
America's oldest orchestra, for seven years.
  Also a widely admired composer, Maazel wrote most of his operas over 
the last 15 years. His first opera, based on George Orwell's 1984, 
premiered at the Royal Opera House in London and later sold out its 
revival at La Scala in Milan.
  Maazel shared his talents with the world, but he also believed deeply 
in mentoring the next generation of artists. Along with his wife, 
Dietlinde Turban Maazel, he founded the Castleton Festival in 2009, 
which was intended to be a ``vista-opener,'' in his words, to nurture 
and mentor young musicians through annual summer performances and 
training seminars on their farm in Rappahannock County, Virginia. He 
was rehearsing and making preparations for this year's festival when he 
passed away at their home, Castleton Farms. His legacy will live on 
through the Castleton Festival and through all of the artists he 
mentored.
  As Nina May, a member of the Castleton Festival Board of Directors 
wrote, ``the maestro's life was based on years of giving--to the arts 
community, to young musicians who are called to their craft and to a 
world that wants to preserve the majesty of classical music.''
  Our thoughts remain with his wife, Dietlinde, and his seven children 
and four grandchildren. Congresswoman Maloney, Congressman Doyle, 
Congresswoman Fudge, and I note

[[Page E1334]]

with great gratitude the life of a world-renowned musical icon.

                          ____________________