STERNEFELD, Daniel

Daniel STERNEFELD was born in Antwerp on 27 November 1905. His early musical training was at the Royal Conservatory of Flanders in Antwerp, taking private lessons with Renaat Veremans and Paul Gilson.

He then studied conducting with Frank van der Stucken, completing his studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg with Bernard Paumgartner, Clemens Krauss and Herbert von Karajan. In 1938 he was appointed principal conductor of the Royal Flemish Opera, which he left in 1948 for the Belgian Radio Symphony Orchestra in Brussels, serving initially as associate conductor, and then from 1957 to 1970, as principal conductor, in addition to his work with many foreign orchestras.

In his writing a clear evolution can be traced from the high Romantic tradition, by way of the chromaticism of Wagner and the sonority of Mahler and Richard Strauss to a measured lyric expressionism. Daniel Sternefeld died in Ukkel on 2nd June 1986.

[Alice Chini-Sternefeld, © CeBeDeM]

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