Gerhard Samuel

Born in Bonn Germany, Gerhard Samuel came to the United States with his family in 1939 to escape Nazi persecution. He attended the Eastman School of Music, and Yale University where he studied under Paul Hindemith. At Tanglewood he became a protégé of Serge Koussevitsky. Samuel’s wide and varied music career also took him to Broadway. A composer as well as a conductor, Gerhard Samuel was a champion of modern music, becoming prominent in classical music circles in San Francisco and Los Angeles in the 1960s and 1970s. He was also former music director of the Oakland Symphony (1959-70) and of the San Francisco Ballet for 10 years. He served as Associate Conductor of the Minneapolis symphony and was named Associate Conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in 1970, while Zubin Mehta was music director.