Pierre Monteux

Pierre Benjamin Monteux was a French conductor. After violin and viola studies, and a decade as an orchestral player and occasional conductor, he began to receive regular conducting engagements in 1907. He came to prominence when, for Sergei Diaghilev's Ballets Russes company between 1911 and 1914, he conducted the world premieres of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring and other prominent works including Petrushka, The Nightingale, Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé, and Debussy's Jeux. Thereafter he directed orchestras around the world for more than half a century.

4 April 1875

Born on the same birth day (4 April): Ambrosius Blarer • Bettina von Arnim • Björn Wirdheim • Chen Yi (composer) • Gil Hodges • Jesús Rollán • Juan Manuel Olivares • Louis Archambault • Nelson Prudêncio • Omarr Smith • Scott Rolen • Sean May • Stanley G. Weinbaum

Born in the same month (April 1875): Edgar Wallace • Frederick Fane • James J. Jeffries • Mistinguett • Ray Lyman Wilbur • Vladimir Vidrić • Walter Chrysler • William Donne (cricketer)