Ezra Rachlin, Conductor And Pianist

LONDON - American conductor and pianist Ezra Rachlin, longtime music director of the Austin Symphony Orchestra in Texas, has died in London at age 79.

The conductor, who underwent vascular surgery last week, died Saturday at St. Mary's Hospital in London. Rachlin had lived in London, where he performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, the London Philharmonica and the Halle Orchestra, for more than 20 years. In 1986, he conducted a series of children's concerts with the London Symphony Orchestra, with his wife, Ann Rachlin, as narrator.

Rachlin was born in Hollywood in 1915 and studied with Fritz Reiner at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia.

From 1946 to 1949, Rachlin was the personal conductor for Danish tenor Lauritz Melchior as he toured the world. He led the Austin Symphony Orchestra from 1949 to 1969, as music director and conductor and was chief conductor of the Fort Worth and Houston Summer Symphony for several years.

Rachlin went to Australia as chief conductor of the Queensland Symphony Orchestra in Brisbane from 1970 to 1972, after which he moved to London.