Jacques Rachmilovich (1895-1956)
A brief biography:
Jacques Rachmilovich was born in Odessa on October 8, 1895. He studied composition and conducting at the St. Petersburg Conservatory, making his debut there in 1921. One of his fellow students was Serge Prokofiev. After immigrating to the US in 1925 and settling in Southern California in 1945, he organized the Santa Monica Symphony Orchestra, which he directed until 1948. A brilliant protege of Arturo Toscanini and Albert Coates, he made numerous appearances as a guest conductor both in the US and abroad, and specialized in both Russian and modern music. Rachmilovich died while travelling on the Italian ship “Giacomo” en route from Italy to the US on August 14, 1956. He was buried in the Strait of Gibralter.
The 1951 recording Rachmilovich made with the Stockholm Radio Symphony Orchestra may be the first commercial recording of Rachmaninov's 1945 restored score (while Eugene Ormandy had already conducted the Philadelphia Orchestra in a televised performance of this work on March 19, 1948).
