Fistoulari, Anatole
Fistoulari, Anatole
Fistoulari, Anatole, Russian-born English conductor; b. Kiev, Aug. 20, 1907; d. London, Aug. 21, 1995. He studied with his father, Gregory Fistoulari, an opera conductor. He was only 7 when he conducted Tchaikovsky’s 6th Sym. in Kiev, and he subsequently conducted throughout Russia. At 12, he made his first conducting tour of Europe. In 1931 he appeared as conductor with the Grand Opera Russe in Paris, and later conducted the Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo on tours of Europe and in 1937 on a tour of the U.S. In 1939 he joined the French Army; after its defeat in 1940, he made his way to London. In 1942 he appeared as a guest conductor with the London Sym. Orch., and then served as principal conductor of the London Phil. (1943–44). He subsequently appeared as a conductor of sym. concerts and opera in England, becoming a naturalized British subject in 1948. In 1956 he toured the Soviet Union with the London Phil. In 1942 he married Mahler’s daughter Anna, but their union was dissolved in 1956.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire