Georges Sébastian

Who was Georges Sébastian?

Georges Sébastian was a French conductor of Hungarian birth, particularly associated with Wagner and the post-romantic repertory.

Born György Sebestyén, he studied first the piano and violin in his native Budapest, before turning to composition. He then worked with Leo Weiner, Zoltán Kodály and Béla Bartók. In 1921, he was engaged as répétiteur at the Munich State Opera, where he worked with Bruno Walter and became his assistant conductor the following year.

He then spent one season as assistant conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Upon his return in Europe, he conducted at the opera houses of Hamburg and Leipzig, before becoming first conductor at the Städtische Oper Berlin. He then became musical director of the Moscow Radio and Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1935, he conducted there the first performance of the original version of Moussorgsky's opera, Boris Godunov.

In 1938, he returned to America and spent the war years there, holding several posts, conductor at the San Francisco Opera, musical director of a radio program for CBS and of the Scranton Philharmonic Orchestra.