Yondani Butt

Yondani C.C. Butt was an orchestral conductor, primarily known for his work in reviving obscure symphonic literature. Born of Chinese parents in Macao, Butt pursued his studies at Indiana University and the University of Michigan, receiving advanced degrees in music and chemistry. He conducted orchestras in the United States, Canada, Latin America, Europe, and Asia, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra of London, the Royal Philharmonic, the American Symphony, the Hamilton Philharmonic of Canada, the Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de Mexico, the Singapore Symphony, the Seoul Philharmonic, the Gunma Symphony Orchestra of Japan, and the Gelderland Orchestra of the Netherlands. He also toured with a group he founded, Symphonie Canadiana. As a specialist in neglected symphonies, Butt recorded symphonies by Saint-Saëns, Glazunov, and Rimsky-Korsakov, along with less familiar orchestral pieces by Elgar, Sibelius, Lalo, Grieg, Goldmark, Kodály, Mahler, Strauss, Raff, and Liszt. Early in the 2000s, he suffered from an ailment of the vocal cords, and he retired from conducting. In 2009, he returned to record with the London Symphony Orchestra, concentrating on works by Beethoven, Brahms, Wagner, Schumann, and Tchaikovsky.