Harry Rabinowitz

Harry Rabinowitz (born March 26, 1916 in Johannesburg, South Africa) is a conductor and composer of film and television music. Harry Rabinowitz is the son of Israel Rabinowitz and Eva, née Kirkel. He was educated at the University of the Witwatersrand and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama His beginnings as a professional musician was six weeks at the piano in a large department store (where he performed sheet music for potential customers). He first conducted an orchestra with a rolled-up newspaper as baton from the pit for a show called “Strike a New Note” in Johannesburg in 1945. He later left Johannesburg in 1946 and went to live in England and studied conducting. He was conductor of the BBC Revue Orchestra (1953–1960), music director for BBC Television Light Entertainment (1960–1968), head of music for London Weekend Television (1968–1977). He has conducted at the Hollywood Bowl 1983-1984 and also the Boston Pops Orchestra 1985-1992. He has conducted the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He conducted the Orchestra of St. Luke's Ismail Merchant and James Ivory 35th anniversary celebration at Carnegie Hall on September 17, 1996. He has conducted the film scores for dozens of movies including Chariots of Fire (1981), Remains of the Day (1993), The English Patient (1996), and Cold Mountain (2003). He has also composed music for television including I, Claudius (1976) and Reilly, Ace of Spies (1983). He is a great believer in under-rehearsing orchestras, believing the musicians will leave smiling. A saying of his is “He never wasted his colleagues’ time”. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.