Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos was born in Burgos in 1933. He studied violin, piano, theory and composition at the Conservatories of Bilbao and Madrid, followed by conducting classes at the Munich Hochschule für Musik, graduating Summa cum laude, as well as with the Richard Strauss Prize. From 1958 to 1962 he was conductor of the Bilbao Orchestra, then, for sixteen consecutive years from 1962 to 1978, of the Madrid National Orchestra, of which, since December 1998, he has been Emeritus Conductor. From 1966 to 1971 he was Permanent Conductor of the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra and of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra from 1974 to 1976. He was Chief Guest Conductor, for ten years, of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington D.C., and, from 1980 to 1990, of the Nippon Yomiuri Orchestra in Tokyo, of which he became Honorary Conductor in 1991. From 1991 to 1996 he was Chief Conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, from 1992 to 1997 Music Director (Generalmusik-direktor) of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and from 1994 to 2000, Permanent Conductor of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. Since September 2001 he has been Chief Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI (Italy) and since the 2004/2005 season he has been Chief Conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra. Following his début with the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra, he conducted all the major American orchestras, and he is a regular guest conductor of orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, and the Munich and Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestras, as well as various German

more....