Opera Scotland

Oskar Danon Suggest updates

Born Sarajevo, 7 February 1913.

Died Belgrade, 18 December 2009.

Yugoslav (Bosnian) conductor.

Oskar Danon studied in Prague, beginning his conducting career in Sarajevo. At the time of his company's Edinburgh visit in 1962 he had been Music Director of the Belgrade Opera since 1945. He retired from that post the following year, becoming director of opera at the Belgrade Conservatory, a position he kept until 1970. He was then appointed chief conductor of the Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra.

In 1955, when Decca took the opportunity to record seven Russian operas with the company, Danon took charge of three of them. He gave a highly authentic style to works by Glinka (Ivan Susanin), Borodin (Prince Igor) and Tchaikovsky (Eugene Onegin).