Orchestra Conductor. Born in Red Bluff, California. Attended Pomona College in California. He rose to prominence as conductor of the Collegiate Chorale in New York where he caught the eye of Arturo Toscanini where he was invited to perform Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the NBC Symphony. He would later form the Robert Shaw Chorale. He served as Music Director of the San Diego Symphony for four years and as Associate Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, working closely with George Szell. He would then become Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony and retire 1988. His conducting would win him 14 Grammy Awards. He was awarded Kennedy Center Honors in 1991 and the National Medal of Arts in 1992 and named "Officier des Arts et des Lettres" by the French Government in 1997.
Orchestra Conductor. Born in Red Bluff, California. Attended Pomona College in California. He rose to prominence as conductor of the Collegiate Chorale in New York where he caught the eye of Arturo Toscanini where he was invited to perform Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 with the NBC Symphony. He would later form the Robert Shaw Chorale. He served as Music Director of the San Diego Symphony for four years and as Associate Conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra, working closely with George Szell. He would then become Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony and retire 1988. His conducting would win him 14 Grammy Awards. He was awarded Kennedy Center Honors in 1991 and the National Medal of Arts in 1992 and named "Officier des Arts et des Lettres" by the French Government in 1997.
