Antonia Brico
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Antonia Brico (June 26, 1902–August 3, 1989) was a conductor and pianist.
Brico was born in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. She and her foster parents immigrated to the United States in 1908 and settled in California. On leaving high school in Oakland in 1919 she was already an accomplished pianist and had experience in conducting. At the University of California, Berkeley Brico worked as an assistant to the director of the San Francisco Opera. Following her graduation in 1923 she studied piano under a variety of teachers, most notably under Sigismund Stojowski. In 1927 she entered the Berlin State Academy of Music and in 1929 graduated from its master class in conducting, the first American to do so. During that period she was also a pupil of Karl Muck, conductor of the Hamburg Philharmonic Orchestra, with whom she studied for a further three years after graduation.
Following her debut as a professional conductor with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in February 1930, Brico worked with the San Francisco Symphony and the Hamburg Philharmonic winning plaudits from critics and the public. Appearances as guest conductor of the Musicians' Symphony Orchestra in major citiies such as Detroit, Washington, D.C. and elsewhere followed. In 1934 she was appointed conductor of the newly-founded Women's Symphony Orchestra which, in January 1939 (following the admission of men), became the Brico Symphony Orchestra.
In July 1938 Brico was the first woman to conduct the New York Philharmonic, and in 1939 conducted the Federal Orchestra in concerts at the New York World's Fair. During an extensive European tour, in which she appeared both as a pianist and a conductor, Brico was invited by Jean Sibelius to conduct the Helsinki Symphony Orchestra.
Brico settled in Denver, Colorado from 1942 onwards. Here she founded a Bach Society and the Women's String Ensemble. She also conducted the Denver Businessmen's Orchestra, which in 1968 became the Brico Symphony Orchestra, and in 1948 became conductor of the Denver Community Symphony (later the Denver Symphony Orchestra). Brico also taught piano, and her students included Samuel Burl Lancaster and Ingrid Ann Hansen. Brico continued to appear as guest conductor with orchestras around the world, including the Japan Women's Symphony.
A documentary film about Brico's life, entitled Antonia: A Portrait of a Woman, made by Jill Godmilow and folk singer Judy Collins, appeared in 1974.
Brico died in Denver, Colorado.
