Entertainment - AP Music
   Conductor-Author Kurt Pahlen Dies at 96
   Fri Jul 25, 2:40 PM ET
   http://tinylink.com/?9xiPotwRdy

   MAENNEDORF, Switzerland - Kurt Pahlen, an Austrian-born conductor
   and author who went to the Americas in his quest to make classical
   music accessible to all, has died, a family spokeswoman said
   Friday.  He was 96.

   Pahlen, who died Thursday, was suffering from pneumonia, said
   the spokeswoman.  He died in a hotel in the central Swiss ski
   resort of Lenk, where he was supervising Children's Week, an
   annual festival of youth choirs, orchestras, and dancing.

   "He especially fostered non-elitist musical performances," said
   the daily Neue Zuercher Zeitung.  "He especially loved children's
   choral productions."

   Austria Press Agency said his motto was, "There are no unmusical
   children" and he championed this theme in organizing countless
   children's music festivals.

   Pahlen wrote more than 60 books, specializing in easy-to-read
   biographies of composers but also introducing readers to opera.
   His autobiography, "Music of the World; A History," was published
   in 2001.  His books were translated into 16 languages.  He
   received numerous awards, honorary doctorates and honorary
   citizenships.

   Pahlen began conducting in his native Vienna, Austria, in 1934.
   Five years later he went to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to conduct
   a concert series before the outbreak of World War II.  He remained
   in Argentina during the war as chief conductor of the Filarmonica
   Metropolitana.

   After the war he taught and conducted in Uruguay and elsewhere
   in Latin America, the United States and Europe until 1972 when
   he moved to Maennedorf.  He remained there and received Swiss
   citizenship in 1982.

   Pahlen is survived by a son and a daughter.  A private funeral
   is planned for next week in Lenk, the spokeswoman said.

Neb Rodgers <[log in to unmask]>