Walter Hendl
Background information
Born	January 12 1917(1917--) West New York, New Jersey, USA
Died	April 10 2007 (aged 90) Harborcreek Township, Pennsylvania, USA
Genre(s)	Classical
Occupation(s)	Composer, conductor, pedagogue, pianist
Associated acts	Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra Dallas Symphony Erie Philharmonic Rochester Philharmonic

Walter Hendl (January 12, 1917 – April 10, 2007) was an American conductor, composer and pianist.

Biography

Hendl was born in West New York, New Jersey, and later went on to study with Fritz Reiner at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. From 1939 to 1941, he taught at Sarah Lawrence College in New York City. In 1941-42, he was a pianist and conductor at the Berkshire Music Center under Serge Koussevitzky. In 1945, he became associate conductor of the New York Philharmonic. In 1949, he was appointed music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and held this position until 1958. In 1953, Walter Hendl became the music director of the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra. He remained with Chautauqua until temporary ill health necessitated his resignation in 1972. He was also active with the Symphony of the Air and conducted its 1955 tour of east Asia.

In 1958, Reiner appointed Hendl as associate conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and he served in this post until 1963. At the same time, he was the first artistic director of the Ravinia Festival from 1959 until 1963.^[1] He left the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1964. From 1964 to 1972, Hendl served as director of the Eastman School of Music at Rochester, New York.^[2] He was also musical adviser to the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra and its part-time conductor.

In 1976 Hendl was appointed music director of the Erie Philharmonic in Erie, Pennsylvania. In 1990, he became professor of conducting at Mercyhurst College in Erie. An advocate of contemporary music, he conducted the premieres of Peter Mennin's Symphony No. 3 with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1947; Bohuslav Martinů's Piano Concerto No. 3 with Rudolf Firkušný and the Dallas Symphony in 1949; Villa-Lobos's Cello Concerto No. 2 with Parisot and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in 1954; and the American premiere of Kabalevsky's Requiem with students of the Eastman School in 1965. He composed incidental music for various stage productions and made several orchestral transcriptions.

His best-selling recordings include violin concerti featuring Jascha Heifetz, Henryk Szeryng, and Erick Friedman; and piano concertos featuring Van Cliburn and Gary Graffman.

Hendl died in Harborcreek Township, Pennsylvania after suffering from heart and lung disease.

References

External links

• Walter Hendl at All Music Guide
• Walter Hendl biography at Maurice-Abravanel.com

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