THE B.B.C. ORCHESTRA
(Section B)
(Leader, ARTHUR CATTERALL )
Conducted by ALBERT COATES
ON PAGE 592 Mr. Albert Coates discusses the items in this concert, particularly the symphony of Shaporin. Mr. Coates, as is well known, spends much time each year in Russia, where as a conductor, both in the concert room and at the opera, his distinction and public standing are second to none. In other European cities and in America his engagements as guest conductor are frequent; in consequence, when he does come to London, the time he can spend here is regrettably short.
He learnt his conducting abroad, particularly as a second to Nikisch, whose pupil for a time he was. Thereafter, in the opera-houses of Germany and Russia he acquired a very thorough knowledge of the operatic repertory, and when he was thirty-one he came to England and shared with Nikisch the eonductorship of the Wagner operas in that brilliant season of 1913. Since that date, interrupted by the War, he has been one of the most prominent of British conductors both here and abroad.