Biography
André Previn was a German-born American composer, pianist and conductor. Born Andreas Ludwig Priwin in Berlin on 6 April 1929, his family fled Nazi persecution and settled in Los Angeles in 1939. He began working in Hollywood as a teenager, initially as an arranger and orchestrator for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and went on to compose or arrange scores for more than fifty films.
Previn received four Academy Awards for his film work, including for Gigi (1958), Porgy and Bess (1959), Irma la Douce (1963) and My Fair Lady (1964). His other notable film scores include Bad Day at Black Rock (1955), Elmer Gantry (1960), One, Two, Three (1961) and The Fortune Cookie (1966). He also served as music director or principal conductor of several major orchestras, among them the Houston Symphony, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the London Symphony Orchestra and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Previn died in New York on 28 February 2019.
