Maurice Strakosch

Maurice ( Moritz ) Strakosch ( born January 15, 1825 United Seelowitz; † October 9, 1887 in Paris) was an American composer and concert entrepreneur Czech origin.

Strakosch debuted as a pianist eleven years old in Brno with a piano concerto by Johann Nepomuk Hummel. A year later he went to Vienna and studied at the Conservatory piano with Simon Sechter. As he dreamed of becoming a great opera tenor, he took a job as a singer at the Opera House of Zagreb. Later he went to Italy, where he was promoted Giuditta Pasta. She gave him singing lessons, but at the same time convinced him to pursue a career as a pianist.

In 1848, he came at the invitation of the singer Salvatore Patti, whom he had met at a concert in 1843, to New York. He organized a music festival here with success with the opera troupe Pattis and then undertook with his daughter Amelia Patti and Teresa Parodi, a student Giuditta Pasta, a tour of the USA. In 1852 he married Amelia Patti.

From 1855 headed Strakosch own opera company. At the same time he had some success as a composer of piano pieces, and in 1857 his opera Don Giovanni di Napoli was listed in New York. Together with the Norwegian violinist Ole Bull, he traveled as his accompanist by the United States. As impresario worked Strakosch for his sisters- Adelina and Carlotta, also for Christine Nilsson, Gabrielle Krauss and Marie Heilbron. In Paris he published not long before his death, his memories souvenirs of an impresario. His younger brother Max Strakosch became known as opera impresario.