Alexander Gibson (conductor)

Sir Alexander Gibson, CBE (11 February 1926 – January 14, 1995) was a conductor and opera intendant.

Gibson was born in Motherwell, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, and would later studied music at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, as well as in London, Salzburg and Siena, Italy. At the time of his appointment in 1957 as musical director of Sadlers Wells English National Opera, he was the youngest ever to have taken that position.

Returning to Glasgow, in 1959 he became the first Scottish principal conductor and artistic director of the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, a post he held until 1984, to date longer than any other conductor. From 1981 to 1983 he was also principal guest conductor of the Houston Symphony Orchestra.

Gibson founded Scottish Opera in 1962 and was music director until 1986. In 1987, Gibson was appointed conductor laureate of Scottish Opera and held this title for the remainder of his life.

He was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 1967, was knighted in 1977 and became president of the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, where in his memory, the Alexander Gibson School of Opera was opened in 1998. It was the first purpose-built opera school in Great Britain.

Gibson had a particular affinity for Scandinavian music, particularly Jean Sibelius, whose work he recorded several times, and Carl Nielsen.

Alexander Gibson died from complications following a heart attack. He was 68.

Gibson is commemorated by a bust in foyer of the Theatre Royal, Glasgow, home of Scottish Opera.

ources

* [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE5DE133BF93AA25752C0A963958260 "New York Times"]

External links

*allmusic|41:55628
* [http://www.royalsoced.org.uk/fellowship/obits/obits_alpha/gibson_alexander.pdf Alexander Gibson biography] at the Royal Society of Edinburgh