Richard Mohr

Richard Mohr (born June 13, 1919, in Springfield, Ohio, died West Milford, New Jersey, November 23, 2002) was one of RCA Victor’s most prominent recording producers of classical and operatic music from 1943 through 1977. His producing credits included [Martin, Douglas. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B00E4DC103EF93AA35752C0A9659C8B63&scp=1&sq=%22Richard+Mohr%22&st=nyt "Richard Mohr, 83, Impresario Of Radio Opera Intermissions"] , "The New York Times", January 9, 2003. Accessed March 1, 2008.] ] recording the casts of the world premieres of Samuel Barber's "Vanessa" and Gian Carlo Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors," as well as the first LP recordings of "Ernani," "Luisa Miller" and "Lucrezia Borgia" and three versions each of "Rigoletto," "Aida," "La Traviata" and "Il Trovatore."

His orchestral repertory began with the last of the live, historical performances of Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra and continued over the years with such conductors as Georg Solti, Erich Leinsdorf, Leopold Stokowski, Tulio Serafin, Pierre Monteux, Charles Munch, Arthur Fiedler, Fritz Reiner, Jean Morel, Zubin Metha, Fausto Cleva and Nello Santi, conducting some of the world's most prestigious orchestras, such as The Chicago Symphony Orchestra , The Boston Symphony , The Philadelphia Orchestra, The London Philharmonia, New Philharmonia, the LSO and LPO.

The recorded legacy he left behind contains more than 80 complete opera recordings, including the landmark, "La Bohème" with Victoria de los Angeles and Jussi Bjoerling, conducted by Thomas Beecham. Other operas featured many of the glorious voices of the era including Leontyne Price, Leonard Warren, Licia Albanese, Robert Merrill, Roberta Peters, Zinka Milanov, Jan Peerce, Renata Scotto, Renata Tebaldi, Plácido Domingo, Nicolai Gedda, Giuseppe di Stefano, Anna Moffo and Mirella Freni.

Martin Bernheimer, former music critic of the Los Angeles Times said of him that [Obituary, Los Angeles Times, January 2003] "He had a great eye and ear for talent and for putting important people together for projects that had lasting value to the music lover. He was an enabler with great imagination and great taste. My impression was he got (the artists) to behave like pussy-cats."His body of work earned him five Grammy Awards [Grammy Awards] for Best Opera Recording of the year and at least twenty-five Grammy nominations. He is also widely known for his legendary appearances on the Met Opera Quiz broadcasts as panelist and later as producer of the Metropolitan Opera broadcast intermission features.

References

External links

* [http://www.richardmohr.com Biography and detailed account]