Hans Wolf (8)

German conductor (5 December 1912, Hamburg - 5 August 2005, Seattle), emigrated to America in 1938. From Seattle Times obituary: Born in Hamburg on Dec. 5, 1912, Dr. Wolf was the middle child of a prominent Jewish banking family. He studied music with noted composer Heinrich Schenker at the University of Vienna, where he earned a Ph.D. in 1937. Shortly thereafter, his family fled the Nazis and Dr. Wolf ended up in Iowa, where he taught at John Fletcher College. Later he enlisted in the Army, ending up as a translator and communications specialist in the occupation force. During that time, he conducted Lehar's "The Merry Widow" and Tchaikovsky's Fifth Symphony in Innsbruck, Austria; in Vienna, he conducted the Tonkünstler Orchestra at one of the world's most famous music theaters, the Musikverein. Under his baton in Vienna, some of the most esteemed singers of the day sang in his performance of Mendelssohn's oratorio "Elijah." Dr. Wolf returned to the United States in 1950, becoming music director and a frequently featured conductor for the Remington Records label (he was involved in recording the first stereophonic records in this country). He spent most of the 1960s in Los Angeles, conducting several operas (from "Aida" to "Carmen") for Four Star Television. There he met Ross, the Seattle Opera founding general director, and conductor Henry Holt. They invited Dr. Wolf to join Seattle Opera as assistant, then associate, conductor and chorusmaster. For the next dozen years, he directed Seattle Opera's chorus and conducted operas performed in English, as well as leading many community opera previews.