{{short description|American pianist and conductor}} '''Emanuel Balaban''' (January 27, 1895 – April 17, 1973) was a pianist and free-lance conductor who taught at the Eastman School of Music and later at the Juilliard School.<ref>Birth date from ''U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925'' on Ancestry.com, accessed Mar. 4, 2016. (access by subscription)</ref><ref name=nytobit>"Emanuel Balaban of Juilliard Staff," ''New York Times'' (Apr. 18, 1973), p. 50. [obituary]</ref>
Balaban was born to Joseph Balaban and Olga Ribman Balaban in Brooklyn, New York.<ref>Information concerning parentage from "Slatoff-Gitlitz Family Tree," on Ancestry.com, accessed Mar. 4, 2016. (access by subscription).</ref> He attended the Institute of Musical Art, then studied under Fritz Busch in Germany. Although a pianist (he was accompanist to Efrem Zimbalist, Mischa Elman and Erica Morini), conducting was his goal. He was a conductor at the Dresden State Opera and led orchestras in Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden, New York, and Washington D.C.<ref name=holmes>John L. Holmes, ''Conductors On Record'' (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1982), p. 32.</ref>
From 1929 through 1944 he was Director of the Opera Department at the Eastman School of Music. In 1945 he conducted a Naumburg Orchestral Concert, in the Naumburg Bandshell, Central Park.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Notable Events and Performers |url=https://naumburgconcerts.org/notable-events-and-performers |access-date=2025-02-23 |website=Naumburg Orchestral Concerts |language=en-US}}</ref> In 1947 he joined the faculty of the Juilliard School, a position he held until his death. From 1953 to 1956 he was on the faculty of the Berkshire Music Center.<ref name=nytobit/>
{{ external media|width=250px|audio1=You may hear recordings by Emanuel Balaban collaborating with various soloists and orchestras in the 1920s and 1940s [https://archive.org/search?query=creator%3A%22Emanuel+Balaban%22<br> '''Here on archive.org'''] }}
He recorded two operas composed by Gian Carlo Menotti, ''The Medium'' and ''The Telephone''.
Balaban died at St. Barnabas Hospital in New York City. He was married to Priscilla Brown who survived him, as did his siblings Edward Balaban and Stella Appelbaum.<ref name=nytobit/>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://catalog.nypl.org/record=b20910098~S1 Emanuel Balaban scrapbook] (Balaban's personal scrapbook) in the [http://www.nypl.org/locations/lpa/music-division Music Division] of [http://www.nypl.org/locations/lpa The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts]
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Balaban, Emanuel}} Category:1895 births Category:1973 deaths Category:20th-century American conductors (music) Category:American male conductors (music) Category:Juilliard School alumni Category:Juilliard School faculty Category:Musicians from Brooklyn Category:Tanglewood Music Center faculty Category:Educators from New York City Category:20th-century American male musicians