Opera Scotland

Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos Suggest updates

Rafael Frühbeck.

Born Burgos, 15 September 1933.

Died Pamplona, 11 June 2014.

Spanish conductor.

Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos was not known as a conductor of opera, concentrating very much on orchestral work. However for the 1989 Edinburgh Festival, with its Spanish theme, he included among his Usher Hall concerts a double-bill of Falla works - the unfinished scenic cantata Atlántida followed by the early opera La vida breve. This programme was particularly appropriate as both pieces had received their British premieres at earlier Festivals. He also conducted a rousing account of the Berlioz Grande Messe des Morts.

Most of his recorded legacy is of choral and orchestral work. However he did make an outstanding 1965 recording of La vida breve with Victoria de los Angeles and Carlo Cossutta. He also recorded Carmen in 1970, with Grace Bumbry, Mirella Freni, Jon Vickers and Kostas Paskalis.