Claudio Abbado, renowned Italian conductor, dies at 80
Abbado was considered one of the greatest conductors of the last 50 years Italian conductor Claudio Abbado, former musical director of La Scala, has died at the age of 80.
Abbado, who was appointed senator for life in Italy last year, had cancelled several recent performances and appearances due to ill health.
He also conducted the London Symphony Orchestra between 1979 and 1988, where he won plaudits for his concerts of his favourite composer, Gustav Mahler.
He was also musical director of Vienna's Staatsoper from 1986 to 1991.
In 1989, Abbado was elected head of the Berlin Philharmonic by its members, where he worked until 2002.
"This is such a painful moment. I can't speak," said Attilia Giuliani, head of the conductor's fan club in Milan.
'Revelatory concerts'Abbado was born into a musical family in Milan in 1933 and trained at the Milan Conservatoire before studying under Hans Swarowsky in Vienna.
His career began at La Scala in 1960 and he want on to become musical director of the famous opera house until 1986, before his work with Vienna's state opera and the Berlin Philharmonic.
In 1997, Abbado won a Grammy Award in the best instrumental soloist performance (with orchestra) category.
In 2012, he was voted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame and awarded the conductor prize at the Royal Philharmonic Society (RPS) Music Awards.
The latter prize was given for his concerts with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra at the Royal Festival Hall in 2011.
The RPS praised Abbado, saying each of his concerts was "a performance of indelible, life-changing moments".
"His extraordinary, revelatory concerts with the Lucerne Festival Orchestra... changed perceptions, and raised the bar once again on what it is possible for a group of musicians to achieve."
Ahead of that concert, Abbado told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that he was a "perfectionist" and that "without music, the world would be a terrible place."
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