Claudio Abbado, famed conductor, dead at 80

ROME, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Italian music conductor and senator Claudio Abbado died Monday in Bologna after a long illness, his family said. He was 80.

ANSA confirmed his death, but did not report the exact cause of it.

The one-time music director at the La Scala opera house in Milan, principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra and music director of the Vienna State Opera was appointed a senator for life last August because of his extraordinary contributions to the arts.

Abbado won two Grammy awards and earned four honorary doctorates throughout his distinguished career.