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Born: October 12, 1906 - Winnipeg, Canada
Died: May 18, 1997 - New York City, New York, USA |
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The conductor and cellist Daniel Saidenberg was born in Canada and his family moved to the USA when he was an infant. Daniel was brother of Theodore Saidenberg. He studied cello from 1919 to 1921 with André Hekking at the Paris Conservatoire and from 1925 to 1930 at the Juilliard School of Music in New York.
Daniel Saidenberg enjoyed an extraordinary career as a cello soloist and chamber musician, conductor and vibrant supporter of young artists. He was a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra from 1926 to 1930 and principal cello with the Chicago Symphony Chorus from 1930 to 1937. From 1933 to 1937 he was head of the cello department at the Chicago Musical College. He began guest conducting orchestras in the eastern USA in 1933, and in 1941 he formed the Saidenberg Little Symphony. He began conducting the Connecticut Symphony Orchestra in 1946.
Daniel Saidenberg married Eleanore Block, a daughter of a founder of Inland Steel who studied dancing with Mary Wigmore. They met when she attended a recital by him and Vladimir Horowitz in Chicago and she soon offered him the opportunity to conduct the music for one her ballets. They married in 1934 and in 1943 moved from Chicago to New York. He was invited to become an assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra but declined "at the last minute because the contract required him toplay his cello as well as conduct," Fitzgerald wrote, adding that "(Instead, the orchestra hired Leonard Bernstein, who was willing to meet the terms.)" In 1950, the Saidenbergs opened an art gallery at 10 East 77th Street in 1950. Five years later, Daniel Henry Kahnweiller, Picasso's dealer in Paris, appointed them Picasso's representative in North America. |
