Yondani Butt

Yondani C. C. Butt is an orchestral conductor. He was born in Macao of Chinese parentage. He studied music at Indiana University and the University of Michigan. He also has a PhD in chemistry, on which subject he has published numerous research papers, particularly on polyene photochemistry.

As founder of Symphonie Canadiana, he has led the orchestra on major tours throughout North America. Since 1983, he has held the position of Resident Conductor of the Victoria International Festival. Butt has recorded and performed in the US, Canada, Latin America, Asia and Europe. He has led the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic, the American Symphony (with which he performed a Brahms cycle in New York), Hamilton Philharmonic of Canada, Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de Mexico, Singapore Symphony, Seoul Philharmonic, Japan Gunma Symphony and Het Gelders Orkest, amongst many others. Works he has recorded included the First Symphony of Mahler, the Glazunov Third, the Saint-Saëns Second, and much more.

He received the MRA Gramophone Award in 1986 and 1995.

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Yondani Butt

Yondani Butt was born in Macau. He holds a Ph.D. in chemistry, on which subject he has published numerous research papers. He studied conducting with Wolfgang Vacano (1906-1985) at Indiana University, majoring in chemistry. He continued to study conducting with Josef Blatt (1906-1999) at the University of Michigan while pursuing his chemistry degree. Both Vacano and Blatt were born in 1906. Vacano was born in Cologne, moved to Berlin as a child, and studied at the Staatliche Hochshule für Musik.  Blatt was born in Vienna and studied piano with the great Leschetizky at the age of four. He later studied conducting with the legendary Clemens Krauss who was the music director of the Vienna Philharmonic as well as the Vienna Opera. Krauss was greatly influenced by Arthur Nikisch, and was a close friend of Richard Strauss. Through this unique heritage, Yondani Butt has inherited a vast repertoire via both Blatt and Krauss, notably the works of Mahler, Richard Strauss and Wagner. Vacano had taught some students conducting at Indiana and Aspen, but Blatt rarely took on students. Yondani Butt was recommended to Blatt by Walter Robert, himself Blatt’s fellow-student and a famous piano pedagogue.  As founder of Symphonie Canadiana, Yondani Butt has led the orchestra on major tours throughout North America. From 1983, he held the position of Resident Conductor of the Victoria International Festival, creating the highly successful Concerti Extravaganza series, for which he conducted more than 23 concerts in six weeks. Frequently in demand as a guest conductor, Yondani Butt has recorded and performed throughout the USA, Canada, Latin America, Asia and Europe. Hailed by Robert Marsh of the Chicago Sun Times as “an outstanding talent”, Yondani Butt has received acclamation from critics and audiences for his many CD recordings and concert performances. In 1995, Yondani Butt received an MRA Gramophone Award in the Symphony category for his recording of Glazunov’s Sixth Symphony. He had won the same Award in 1986 for his interpretation of Rimsky-Korsakov's Third Symphony. Yondani Butt’s recording of Glazunov's Third Symphony is recognized by the Glazunov Society as definitive, and earned him the title of Honorary Patron of the Society. His extensive discography includes works by Elgar, Glière, Grieg, Kodály, Lalo, Liszt, Mahler, Raff, Saint-Saëns, Sibelius and Richard Strauss.  His recording of Goldmark's Rustic Wedding Symphony featured in the Classical Charts and was a Gramophone Magazine Critics’ Choice.  In the early 2000s, Yondani Butt suffered damage to his vocal chords, and retired from conducting. However, in 2009 he returned to the podium, working with the London Symphony Orchestra to record many of the Austro-German classics, including Beethoven, Brahms, Schumann and Wagner, as well as works by Tchaikovsky, and a disc of French Classics. Yondani Butt is also a composer. He studied free counterpoint and composition with Bernard Heiden (1910-2000). Heiden was born in Frankfurt am Main and was a student of Paul Hindemith’s. In Indiana, Yondani Butt studied piano with Sidney Foster, a protégé of Isabelle Vengerova and David Saperton at the Curtis Institute. In Michigan, he studied ensemble with Eugene Bossart (1917-2011) and piano with Karen Keys, who had been a student of Alfred Cortot.