Artist Overview
# Classical
Until 1954, when he managed to get an approval from Tito to be issued a passport, his activities in the former country were limited to Rijeka and Ljubljana, but soon his career gained full international momentum. The recording in 1954 of highlights from Richard Strauss's Arabella (with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf) in London for the Columbia label marked a new beginning in the conductor's life. He replaced Herbert von Karajan for that recording and afterwards signed a five-year contract with the record company. The following year he replaced Karl Böhm at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich for a triumphal performance of Strauss's Ariadne on Naxos. Appearances in Berlin, Stuttgart, Augsburg, Salzburg, Graz and elsewhere followed, where he conducted concert programs, operas, and often even directed the productions. He was invited to the Dresden State Chapel, State Opera of East Berlin, and to tours around Europe, including Ljubljana, Split, and Dubrovnik. After leaving Dresden in 1958, Matačić strengthened his ties to Vienna, debuted at the Bayreuth Festival where he also started a long-term collaboration with opera director and Richard Wagner's grandson, Wieland Wagner. He finally travelled to the United States, where he performed at the Chicago Opera. Matačić won over the Italian audience, too - in 1961 at the Rome Opera he performed Wagner's The Ring of the Nibelung. In 1961 in Frankfurt he became the chief conductor of the municipal opera and the prestigious series of Museum Concerts. He continued working in multiple fields: he recorded for RAI in Turin, and simultaneously managed the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. He was named Honorary Life-Time Conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Japan, conducted orchestras such as Philharmonie, the Czech, Berlin, and Munich philharmonic orchestras. He appeared at the Bavarian State Opera, Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, the State and Volksopera of Vienna. At the Musikverein he regularly conducted the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, sat on the jury for Karajan's conducting competition and in 1974 became the chief conductor of the National Opera Orchestra of Monte Carlo. The list goes on with his appointment as the chief conductor of the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra in 1970 with which he realized a number of ambitious plans, including support for young conductors through a special series – Presenting Young Conductors. He died in Zagreb in 1985.