Albert Coates
|
|
Albert Coates (April 23, 1882 - December 11, 1953) was a British conductor and composer.
He was born in St. Petersburg in Russia to English parents. He studied at the conservatory in Leipzig and became conductor at St Petersburg's Mariinsky Theatre. He made his debut at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden in 1914 with Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. He introduced many new works to audiences, including pieces by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Arnold Bax and, perhaps most notably, led the first complete London public performance of Gustav Holst's The Planets. His works as composer, now little-remembered, include the operas Samuel Pepys and Pickwick. In 1946 he settled in South Africa, where he died.
Albert Coates was no relation to Eric Coates, the English light music composer.