Eliahu Inbal

Eliahu Inbal, an Israeli conductor, gained worldwide recognition through his concert engagements and an extensive catalog of recordings that feature complete symphonic cycles by multiple composers. Across Europe his standing as an opera conductor nearly matches that reputation, reflecting interests that extend from the Italian bel cantists to a wide range of twentieth-century scores. He has likewise championed contemporary symphonic music, directing the premieres of numerous original compositions and reconstructions prepared under his guidance. Inbal began his formal studies at Jerusalem University, where he concentrated on the violin, before redirecting his training exclusively toward conducting. He attended classes given by the iconoclastic Romanian maestro Sergiu Celibidache in Hilversum and continued his education with further conducting courses at the Paris Conservatoire. His rising competence received formal acknowledgment in 1963 when he captured the Guido Cantelli Prize in Novara.

Inbal made his English debut in 1965, appearing not on the operatic stage but in the concert hall with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. That engagement with the LPO generated additional invitations from other British ensembles and ultimately resulted in his acquiring joint British citizenship. While maintaining a balance between symphonic and operatic work, he made his Bologna debut in 1969 with a performance of Strauss’ Elektra. Later the same year a production of Verdi’s Don Carlo at Verona strengthened his reputation for unifying the disparate strands of a sometimes sprawling score. In 1971 he conducted a concert presentation of Cherubini’s Anacréon, marking the work’s first French-language hearing since its 1803 premiere. Appointed chief conductor of Venice’s Teatro la Fenice in 1984, he held the post until 1989. During a particularly demanding assignment in 1986, Inbal led performances of two Verdi operas, Stiffelio and Aroldo, on the same day, earning praise for the orchestral contribution despite uneven singing from the casts.

At the same time he took up the chief conductorship of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, the ensemble with which he would produce an important series of recordings. He remained in that post until 1990 and was named the orchestra’s conductor laureate in 1996. Among the world premieres he has overseen, special notice has attended his 1977 account of Juan Allende-Blin’s edition of Debussy’s unfinished La chûte de la maison Usher. That year also brought the first performance of Xavier Benguerel’s Concerto for percussion. In 1982 Inbal introduced Isang Yun’s first violin concerto. His discography includes the complete symphonies of Mahler, Bruckner, and Shostakovich as well as the full orchestral output of Ravel, Scriabin, Schumann, and Berlioz. A Mondo Musica recording of Donizetti’s Maria de Rudenz stands out for the conductor’s insight into the composer’s transitional idiom. In 1990 he received the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, and in 1996 he was elected an honorary member of Italy’s Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI.