Rudolf Schwarz

Austrian-born British conductor and pianist (born 29 April 1905 in Vienna, Austria – died 30 January 1994 in London, England, UK)

Born into a Jewish family in Vienna, Schwarz took up the piano at age six and the violin not much afterwards. He later studied piano under [a=Hans Gál], Richard Robert, and Richard Strauss and played viola in the Vienna State Opera. From 1923 to 1927 he worked as correpetitor at the Düsseldorf opera under George Szell; he had his debut as a conductor in 1924. In 1927, he became the first conductor at the Badisches Landestheater Karlsruhe alongside Josef Krips and Joseph Keilberth. There he conducted all Wagner operas except "Tristan und Isolde" and led symphony concerts. In April 1933, he was dismissed because of his Jewish descent in April 1933. Between 1936 and 1941, he served as musical director of the Jüdischer Kulturbund (Jewish Cultural Association) in Berlin. In 1941, he was deported to Auschwitz, from there transferred to Sachsenhausen and finally, in January 1945, sent to Bergen-Belsen, where he was near death from hunger and typhus when the camp was liberated in April 1945. After several months of recovery in a hospital, he was able to emigrate to Sweden, where he worked as a cashier.

In 1947, Schwarz was appointed music director of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra. In 1951, he became music director of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. In 1952, he acquired British citizenship. In 1957, he BBC hired him as principal conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra; in 1964, he became its director. In 1967, he moved once more to take up an appointment as music director of Northern Sinfonia in Newcastle upon Tyne. Schwarz died in London in 1994.

During his second career in Britain, critics frequently noted Schwarz' reticence in gesture. This was a result of the broken shoulder blades and concomitant nerve damage Schwarz had suffered in Auschwitz when he was hoisted up with his hands tied behind his back.