Sensational young conductor

Here’s a photo from the May 15 1937 edition of the Toronto Daily Star of a conductor whose orchestra was about to appear in Toronto.

Eugene Ormandy (1899-1985) wasn’t all that young when this photo appeared – he was 37, which I suppose might have been considered young in the music world. Born in Hungary, he was admitted to the Royal National Hungarian Academy of Music at the age of five as a violinist.

Emigrating to the United States in 1921, he became the conductor of the Minnesota Symphony Orchestra from 1931 to 1936. In 1936, he was appointed co-conductor of the Philadelphia Orchestra; he became the orchestra’s musical director and conductor in 1938, a position he held for 42 years. After his death, the U.S. Congress and President Ronald Reagan proclaimed that November 18 1985 would be “Eugene Ormandy Appreciation Day”.