André Previn, former music director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and a force whose influence spread beyond the classical world, died Thursday after a short illness at his home in New York City, his manager Linda Petrikova said. He was 89.
Previn was a conductor, composer and pianist who toggled between classical, pop and jazz, winning four Academy Awards along the way. But his biggest legacy may be his leadership of symphonies across the globe in a long and illustrious career as a conductor.
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Previn — whose great-uncle Charles Previn was an Oscar winner and music director of Universal Studios — entered the world of film at age 16. MGM hired him to arrange music for film scores, and he went on to write and arrange music for film, winning Oscars for music on “My Fair Lady,” “Gigi,” “Irma la Douce” and “Porgy and Bess.”
