Claudio Abbado, one of the world's top conductors who over the decades led the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna's State Opera and Milan's La Scala, has died aged 80, the Milan opera house said on Monday. Abbado, who shunned the publicity and pomp often associated with grand maestros and staunchly supported young musicians, died in the northern city of Bologna in his native Italy after a long illness. "The world of music and culture has lost an absolute champion," Italian Prime Minister Enrico Letta said in a statement. Milan mayor Giuliano Pisapia said he would ask La Scala's current director to organize a memorial concert for Abbado, who was ceremonially named an Italian Senator for Life by President Giorgio Napolitano last August.