Oscar-winning composer Previn dies at 89
Andre Previn, the pianist, composer and conductor whose broad reach took in the worlds of Hollywood, jazz and classical music, always rejecting suggestions that his bop `n’ blues moonlighting lessened his stature, died Thursday. He was 89.
His ex-wife Mia Farrow tweeted Thursday, “See you in the Morning beloved Friend. May you rest in glorious symphonies.”
Previn was a child prodigy whose family fled Nazi Germany. As a teenager, he found work as a composer and arranger in the musical sweatshops of Hollywood, mostly at MGM, winning four Oscars for his orchstrations of such stylish musicals as 1964’s “My Fair Lady.”
In 1958, he won the first of his numerous Grammys for the sound track for “Gigi.” In 1960 he was awarded a Grammy for best jazz performance for selections from “West Side Story.”
He won the same award the next year for “Andre Previn Plays Harold Arlen.” In 1998, he received the Kennedy Center’s lifetime achievement award — with ex-wife Farrow reading a tribute at the televised ceremony.
Previn was music directory of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra from 1976 to 1984.
