Leopold Stokowski

Birth Name:

Leopold Anthony Stokowski

Birth Place:

London, England

Profession

Soundtrack, Music department, Actor

Graduated from Queen's College at Oxford with a degree in Music in 1903
Learned to play violin, piano, and organ during his childhood and became the youngest person to be admitted to the Royal College of Music at the age of 13
Made his conducting debut unexpectedly in 1908 when he filled in for a conductor in Paris who had fallen ill
Frequently experimented with orchestral seating, grouping instruments together and once lining up the string basses along the rear of the stage
Left his position at the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra to join the Philadelphia Orchestra in 1912
Best known as a conductor who led the Philadelphia Orchestra for several years and appeared in the film "Fantasia․"
Was one of the first conductors to stop using a baton in favor of using graceful hand gestures
For "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment of "Fantasia," the animators at Disney copied his own conducting gestures for Mickey's directing of the forces of Nature

Fast Facts