{{Short description|Israeli composer and conductor (1927–2005)}} {{Infobox person | honorific_prefix = | name = Gary Bertini | honorific_suffix = | native_name = גארי ברתיני | native_name_lang = he | image = GaryBertiniPhoto.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = | birth_name = | birth_date = {{birth date|mf=yes|1927|5|1}} | birth_place = Brichevo, Moldavia | death_date = {{death date and age|mf=yes|2005|03|17|1927|5|1}} | death_place = Israel | nationality = | other_names = | citizenship = Israeli | education = | alma_mater = | occupation = Conductor and Composer | years_active = | employer = | organization = | known_for = | notable_works = | spouse = Rosette Bertini | partner = | children = | parents = | relatives = | callsign = | awards = | signature = | signature_alt = | signature_size = | website = {{URL|http://www.garybertini.com}} | footnotes = | module = }}

'''Gary Bertini''' ({{langx|he|גארי ברתיני}}; May 1, 1927 – March 17, 2005) was one of the most important Israeli musicians and conductors. In 1978 he was awarded the Israel Prize for Music.

==Biography== Gary Bertini was born ''Shloyme Golergant'' in Bricheva, Bessarabia, then in Romania, now in Donduşeni District, Moldova. His father, K. A. Bertini (Aron Golergant), was a poet and translator of the Russian (Leonid Andereyev) and Yiddish (A.Sutzkever, H. Leivick) literature into Hebrew, and of the Hebrew works into Yiddish. His mother Berta Golergant was a physician and biologist. They immigrated to Palestine in 1946. Gary studied music at the Music Teachers' College in Tel Aviv and then in Milan, Italy, and at the Paris Conservatoire.

Upon returning to Israel, Bertini established Rinat (the Israel Chamber Choir) in 1955. He was musical advisor to the Batsheva Dance Company and composed original music for numerous productions of Habima, the Israel national theater, and the Cameri Theatre. He founded the Israel Chamber Orchestra in 1965 and was its conductor until 1975. In 1971 he conducted the world premiere of Josef Tal's ''Ashmedai'' at the Hamburg State Opera.

Bertini was conductor of the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra from 1978 to 1986. He was also the artistic director of the Israeli Opera from 1988 to 1997. He promoted Israeli music and helped shape it.

Bertini was hospitalized while in Paris, then transferred to a hospital in Tel Hashomer, Israel. He died there on 17 March 2005 and was buried in Kfar Vitkin.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.haaretz.com/1.4772643|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181016081342/https://www.haaretz.com/1.4772643|url-status=dead|archive-date=October 16, 2018|title=Israeli Conductor Gary Bertini Dies, 77|date=18 March 2005|newspaper=Haaretz}}</ref>

Bertini's work also took him outside Israel. He was music advisor to the Detroit Symphony Orchestra from 1981 to 1983 and the Principal Conductor of the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1983 until 1991. He also served as general music director of the Opern- und Schauspielhaus Frankfurt from 1987 to 1990, the Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra from 1998 to 2005, and, just before he died, director of the Teatro di San Carlo in Naples. He also worked as a guest conductor with the Hamburg State Opera, Scottish Opera, La Scala, Opéra National de Paris, and the Berlin Philharmonic among other organizations.<ref name="opera">{{cite news | url=http://www.metoperafamily.org/operanews/issue/article.aspx?id=1175&issueID=48&archive=true| title=Obituaries: Theodor Uppman, stalwart Met baritone, dies at eighty-five; conductor Gary Bertini; editor Elizabeth S. Crow; sopranos Dorothy Dow and Una Hale; author William Murray; musicologist Stanley Sadie; impresario James Stuart| work=Opera News| date= June 2005 |volume=69 |issue=12 | access-date= May 21, 2009}}</ref>

Bertini's recording of the complete cycle of Mahler symphonies (EMI Classics 40238) is very well regarded.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2007/Jan07/Mahler_Bertini_3402382.htm|title=Mahler Bertini 3402382 [TP]: Classical CD Reviews - January 2007 MusicWeb-International|first=Music on the|last=Web(UK)|website=www.musicweb-international.com}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=9667|title=Reference Recording: Bertini Offers the Best Complete Mahler Cycle - Classics Today|website=www.classicstoday.com|access-date=2007-03-19|archive-date=2012-02-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120206160707/http://www.classicstoday.com/review.asp?ReviewNum=9667|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>[https://www.gramophone.co.uk/editorial/mahlers-symphonies-nos-1-9-no-10-–-adagio-das-lied-von-der-erde ''Gramophone'' review]</ref>

==Awards== * 1978 - Israel Prize for Music, Israel <ref name=prize>{{Cite web|title=Israel Prize Official Site - Recipients in 1978 (in Hebrew) |url=http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashlag/Tashmab_Tashlag_Rikuz.htm?DictionaryKey=Tashlach |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716091115/http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashlag/Tashmab_Tashlag_Rikuz.htm?DictionaryKey=Tashlach |archive-date=2011-07-16 }}</ref> * 1995 - Abiatti Prize: Best Conductor, Italy * 1998 - Abiatti Prize: Best Operatic Conductor, Italy *2000 - Prime Minister Award for Composers, Israel * 2003 - Académie Charles Cros – Grand Prix Audiovisuel & DVD pour Prokofiev: La Guerre et la Paix, France

==References== {{reflist}}

== External links == * [http://www.garybertini.com Gary Bertini official website] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20050414115818/http://www.operaheb.co.il/pics/cond/g_bartini.html Short biography in Hebrew] * [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/gary-bertini-529550.html Obituary of Gary Bertini] in The Independent (London) * [https://web.archive.org/web/20070927213307/http://www.imi.org.il/articles/bertini-cohn.htm Memorial essay on Gary Bertini] by Michal Smoira-Cohn for the Israel Music Institute * [http://www.bruceduffie.com/bertini.html Interview with Gary Bertini], September 12, 1990 * Bibliography on Gary Bertini, in Ronit Seter, "[https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/display/document/obo-9780199757824/obo-9780199757824-0264.xml#obo-9780199757824-0264-div2-0005 Israeli Art Music]", on Oxford Bibliographies (accessed 14 May, 2024)

{{s-start}} {{s-culture}} {{succession box | title=Principal Conductor, WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne | before=Hiroshi Wakasugi | years=1983&ndash;1991 | after=Hans Vonk }} {{succession box | title=Music Director, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra | before=Hiroshi Wakasugi | years=1998&ndash;2005 | after=James DePreist }} {{succession box | title=Music Director, Teatro di San Carlo in Naples | before=Gabriele Ferro | years=2004 | after=Jeffrey Tate }} {{s-end}} {{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bertini, Gary}} Category:1927 births Category:2005 deaths Category:People from Dondușeni District Category:Moldovan Jews Category:Bessarabian Jews Category:Soviet emigrants to Mandatory Palestine Category:Israeli people of Moldovan-Jewish descent Category:Israeli Ashkenazi Jews Category:Israeli composers Category:Jewish classical musicians Category:Jewish composers Category:20th-century Israeli conductors (music) Category:Israel Prize in music recipients Category:Chief conductors of the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne