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Georges Prêtre (born 14 August 1924) is a French
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 conductor
Conducting

Conducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. Orchestras, choirs, concert bands and other musical ensembles often have conductors....
.

He was born in Waziers
Waziers

Waziers is a Communes of France in the Nord Departments of France in northern France.It is northwest of Douai and south of Lille....
 (Nord), and studied harmony under Maurice Duruflé
Maurice Duruflé

Maurice Durufl? was a France composer, organist, and pedagogue....
 and conducting under André Cluytens
André Cluytens

Andr? Cluytens was a Belgian-born French conducting.He was born in Antwerp to a musical family. At age nineteen he graduated from the Royal Flemish Conservatory with first prizes in piano, harmony, counterpoint, and fugue....
 among others at the Paris Conservatoire. After graduating, he conducted in a number of small French opera houses sometimes under the pseudonym Georges Dherain before making his Paris debut at the Opéra-Comique
Opéra-Comique

The th??tre national de l?Op?ra-Comique is an opera company and opera house in Paris. It is located in the place Boieldieu, in the IIe arrondissement of Paris, near the Paris Stock Exchange and not far from the Palais Garnier, home of the Op?ra National de Paris....
 in Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss

Richard Georg Strauss was a German composer of the late Romantic music and early modern eras, particularly of operas, Lieder and tone poems. Strauss was also a prominent Conducting....
' Capriccio
Capriccio (opera)

Capriccio is the final opera by Germany composer Richard Strauss, subtitled "A Conversation Piece for Music". The opera received its premiere performance at the Nationaltheater M?nchen on October 28, 1942....
. His debut at the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in the London district of Covent Garden. The large building, often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", is the home of Royal Opera, London , Royal Ballet, London and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House....
, Covent Garden
Covent Garden

Covent Garden is a district in London, England, located on the easternmost parts of the City of Westminster and the southwest corner of the London Borough of Camden....
 came in 1961, with first appearances at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera Association of New York City, founded in April 1880, is a major presenter of all types of opera including Grand Opera. Peter Gelb is the company's general manager and James Levine is music director....
, New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
, and La Scala
La Scala

The Teatro alla Scala , in Milan, Italy, is one of the world's most famous opera houses. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778, under the name Nuovo Regio Ducal Teatro alla Scala with Antonio Salieri Europa riconosciuta....
, Milan
Milan

Milan is the second largest city of Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. It is the capital in the Province of Milan, as well as the Regions of Italy capital of Lombardy....
, later in the 1960s.






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Georges Prêtre (born 14 August 1924) is a French
France

France , officially the French Republic , is a country whose Metropolitan France is located in Western Europe and that also comprises various Overseas departments and territories of France....
 conductor
Conducting

Conducting is the act of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. Orchestras, choirs, concert bands and other musical ensembles often have conductors....
.

He was born in Waziers
Waziers

Waziers is a Communes of France in the Nord Departments of France in northern France.It is northwest of Douai and south of Lille....
 (Nord), and studied harmony under Maurice Duruflé
Maurice Duruflé

Maurice Durufl? was a France composer, organist, and pedagogue....
 and conducting under André Cluytens
André Cluytens

Andr? Cluytens was a Belgian-born French conducting.He was born in Antwerp to a musical family. At age nineteen he graduated from the Royal Flemish Conservatory with first prizes in piano, harmony, counterpoint, and fugue....
 among others at the Paris Conservatoire. After graduating, he conducted in a number of small French opera houses sometimes under the pseudonym Georges Dherain before making his Paris debut at the Opéra-Comique
Opéra-Comique

The th??tre national de l?Op?ra-Comique is an opera company and opera house in Paris. It is located in the place Boieldieu, in the IIe arrondissement of Paris, near the Paris Stock Exchange and not far from the Palais Garnier, home of the Op?ra National de Paris....
 in Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss

Richard Georg Strauss was a German composer of the late Romantic music and early modern eras, particularly of operas, Lieder and tone poems. Strauss was also a prominent Conducting....
' Capriccio
Capriccio (opera)

Capriccio is the final opera by Germany composer Richard Strauss, subtitled "A Conversation Piece for Music". The opera received its premiere performance at the Nationaltheater M?nchen on October 28, 1942....
. His debut at the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House

The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in the London district of Covent Garden. The large building, often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", is the home of Royal Opera, London , Royal Ballet, London and the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House....
, Covent Garden
Covent Garden

Covent Garden is a district in London, England, located on the easternmost parts of the City of Westminster and the southwest corner of the London Borough of Camden....
 came in 1961, with first appearances at the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera

The Metropolitan Opera Association of New York City, founded in April 1880, is a major presenter of all types of opera including Grand Opera. Peter Gelb is the company's general manager and James Levine is music director....
, New York City
New York City

The City of New York is the List of United States cities by population in the United States, while the New York metropolitan area ranks among the List of urban areas by population....
, and La Scala
La Scala

The Teatro alla Scala , in Milan, Italy, is one of the world's most famous opera houses. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778, under the name Nuovo Regio Ducal Teatro alla Scala with Antonio Salieri Europa riconosciuta....
, Milan
Milan

Milan is the second largest city of Italy, located in the plains of Lombardy. It is the capital in the Province of Milan, as well as the Regions of Italy capital of Lombardy....
, later in the 1960s. He worked with Maria Callas
Maria Callas

Maria Callas was an American-born Greeks soprano and one of the most renowned opera singers of the twentieth century. She combined an impressive bel canto technique with great dramatic gifts....
 on a number of occasions, and made recordings of Carmen
Carmen

Carmen is a French op?ra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Hal?vy, based on the Carmen by Prosper M?rim?e, first published in 1845, itself influenced by the narrative poem "The Gypsies" by Pushkin....
 and Tosca
Tosca

Tosca is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Victorien Sardou drama, La Tosca....
 with her. For a time he was music director of the Paris Opera
Académie Royale de Musique

Th??tre de l?Acad?mie Royale de Musique was the official theatre of the French theatrical institution known as the Acad?mie Royale de Musique from 1821 until 1873, and was principal venue of the Parisian opera and ballet companies until its destruction by fire in 1873....
.

Aside from opera, Prêtre is best known for performances of French music. He is especially associated with Francis Poulenc
Francis Poulenc

Francis Jean Marcel Poulenc was a France composer and a member of the French group Les Six. He composed music in all major genres, including art song, chamber music, oratorio, opera, ballet music, and orchestral music....
, giving the premiere of his opera La voix humaine
La voix humaine

La Voix humaine is a one-act opera for one character, with music by Francis Poulenc to a libretto by Jean Cocteau, based on his 1932 play....
 at the Opéra-Comique in 1959 and his Sept répons des ténèbres in 1963. In 1999 he gave a series of concerts in Paris to celebrate the centenary of Poulenc's birth. In 1988 Marcel Landowski
Marcel Landowski

Marcel Landowski was a French composer, biographer and arts administrator.Born at Pont-l'Abb?, Finist?re, Brittany, he was the son of French sculptor Paul Landowski and great-grandson of the composer Henri Vieuxtemps....
 dedicated his Fourth Symphony to Prêtre.

He also conducted the La Scala
La Scala

The Teatro alla Scala , in Milan, Italy, is one of the world's most famous opera houses. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778, under the name Nuovo Regio Ducal Teatro alla Scala with Antonio Salieri Europa riconosciuta....
 Orchestra in Franco Zeffirelli
Franco Zeffirelli

Franco Zeffirelli, Order of the British Empire , is an Italy film director. He is also an theatre director, designer and producer of opera, theatre, film and television....
's 1982 film versions of Mascagni's Cavalleria Rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana

Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story....
 and Leoncavallo's Pagliacci
Pagliacci

Pagliacci is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe....
. Both films starred Placido Domingo
Plácido Domingo

Jos? Pl?cido Domingo Embil Order of the British Empire , better known as Pl?cido Domingo, is a Spanish tenor, known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range....
.

Prêtre conducted the 2008 Vienna New Year's Concert
Vienna New Year's Concert

The New Year Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra is a concert of classical music that takes place each year in the morning of January 1 in Vienna, Austria....
, the only French conductor, so far, to have done so. He is scheduled to conduct the traditional concert again in 2010.