Descriptive Summary
Administrative Information
Biography
Scope and Content
Indexing Terms
Related Material
Additional collection guides
Descriptive Summary
Title: George Barati Papers,
Date (inclusive): 1913-1996
Collection number: MS 94
Creator:
Barati, George
Extent:
51 boxes,
ca. 30 linear ft.
Repository:
University of California, Santa Cruz. University Library. Special Collections and Archives
Santa Cruz, California 95064
Abstract: Contains biographical material, correspondence, writings and speeches, concert programs, scores, photographs, recordings,
posters, and miscellaneous materials documenting Maestro George Barati's professional career as a conductor, composer, cellist
and music educator.
Physical location: Collection is stored in Special Collections & Archives and at NRLF: Advance notice is required for access to the papers.
Language:
English.
Administrative Information
Access
Collection is open for research.
Publication Rights
Property rights reside with the University of California. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and
their heirs. For permission to publish or to reproduce the material, please consult the Head of Special Collections and Archives.
Preferred Citation
George Barati Papers, MS 94, Special Collections and Archives, University
Library, University of California, Santa Cruz.
Acquisition Information
Gift of the Barati Family, 1990-2000.
Biography
George Barati was a distinguished cellist, conductor, and composer. Born in Gyor, Hungary, Barati lived in the United States since 1938.
His recollections include highlights of his international career as cellist, conductor, and composer spanning some 60 years,
and reflections on the state of the musical arts in the United States since the end of World War II.
Barati graduated from the Franz Liszt Conservatory of Music in Budapest in 1935. During the 1930s he was a member of the Budapest Concert Orchestra, where he played under the most celebrated conductors of his era. He was a founding member of the Pro Ideale Quartet and studied or performed with Bartok, Dohnanyi, and other eminent faculty members at the Liszt Conservatory. While still a student he became first cellist with the Budapest Symphony and the Municipal Opera. Barati settled in the United States in Princeton, New Jersey in 1938. There he taught cello at Princeton University and studied composition with Roger Sessions from 1938 to 1943.
In 1946 Barati moved to San Francisco, where he was a member of the San Francisco Symphony during the tenure of Pierre Monteux. He was also a member of the California String Quartet and founding conductor of the Barati Chamber Orchestra of San Francisco from 1948 to 1952. Barati also began to achieve recognition for his own compositions at this time.
From 1950 to 1968, Barati was music director of the Honolulu Symphony and Opera. During this period he also began an extensive international conducting career that included guest and visiting
conducting appearances with some 85 orchestras on five continents, including Japan, Europe, and Latin America.
In 1968 Barati returned to the mainland and became executive director of the Villa Montalvo Center for the Arts and conductor of the Villa Montalvo Chamber Orchestra in Saratoga, California. From 1971 to 1980 he was music director of the Santa Cruz County Symphony.
In addition to his conducting career, he was a juror for the Mitropoulos Competition for Conductors from 1957 to 1970 and
participated as a juror for both the Metropolitan and San Francisco Opera Competitions. His honors and awards include the
doctor of music, Honoris Causa, from the University of Hawaii in 1955, a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1965-66, the Ditson Award in 1962, and the Naumberg Award for Composition in 1959.
George Barati died in 1996 at the age of eighty three.
Biography courtesy of Regional History program, UCSC, 1997.
Photo by Ansel Adams, 1956.
Scope and Content
Contains biographical material, correspondence, writings and speeches,Honolulu Symphony Orchestra papers, concert programs, publicity, photographs, scores, recordings, posters, and miscellany items. Bulk of the material
date to 1950-1968, recording George Barati's 18 year music directorship in Hawaii and international concert tours during that
same period.
Arrangement
The correspondence files are divided into two sections; Alphabetic correspondence, and chronological correspondence. This
division is based on the initial organization done by Mr. Barati & Paul Machlis. A complete list of correspondents and dates
exists for the alphabetized letters. Concert programs and publicity files are arranged chronologically. The Scores are arranged
chronologically within a genre: Sections A. Orchestral Music, B. Chamber Music, C. Solo Piano Music, D. Other Solo Works (except
vocal), E. Vocal Music, F. Music for the Stage, G. Film Music, H. Other - miscellaneous. Concult Special Collection Staff
for item by item listing of the recordings and photographs. The reel-to-reel recordings are restricted from use because of
their fragile condition.
Indexing Terms
The following terms have been used to index the description of this
collection in the library's online public access catalog.
Barati, George, 1913-1996
Honolulu Symphony Orchestra
Composers, United States
Conductors (Music), United States
Related Material
Oral History
George Barati : a life in music / interviewed and edited by Randall Jarrell. Published Santa Cruz : University of California, Santa Cruz, University Library,
1991.
Collections of Personal Papers
Additional collection guides