Conductor Herbert Blomstedt dies aged 99
Herbert Blomstedt, the Swedish-American conductor known as a leading interpreter of Beethoven, Brahms and Bruckner, has died aged 99 at his home in Gothenburg, Sweden. His career spanned seven decades.
Herbert Blomstedt, one of the world's most renowned classical conductors, has died at the age of 99 at his home in Gothenburg, Sweden. His career lasted seven decades, and he kept conducting almost to the end: his final concert took place in May this year, when he was 98.
From Massachusetts to the world's podiums
Blomstedt was born in July 1927 in Massachusetts, US, to Swedish parents, and grew up in Sweden and Finland. He studied conducting under Igor Markevitch, Jean Morel and Leonard Bernstein, and made his debut with the Stockholm Philharmonic in 1954.
He went on to serve as principal conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic (1962–68) and of the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra (1967–77), led the Staatskapelle Dresden from 1975 to 1985, and was music director of the San Francisco Symphony from 1985 to 1995. He also worked with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra from 1998 to 2005. In the last two decades of his life he built a close relationship with London's Philharmonia, which he first conducted in 2006 at the Edinburgh festival.
Final concerts
His last London appearance came in November 2024, conducting Mahler's Ninth Symphony. The Guardian's Martin Kettle described it as one of the finest Mahler Ninths one is likely to hear. In May this year in San Francisco, where he was the orchestra's conductor laureate, a performance of the same symphony was briefly halted when he collapsed during the third movement; he was very frail at the time.
Recognition
Blomstedt was regarded as one of the world's leading interpreters of Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Bruckner, and his Sibelius and Nielsen cycles were particularly acclaimed. He received two Grammys and a Gramophone award, and earlier this autumn was named a laureate of the Praemium Imperiale. He was honorary conductor of orchestras in Bamberg, Leipzig, Denmark, Tokyo, Stockholm, Dresden, Oslo and Norrköping.
Lothar Schacke, his manager for almost four decades, said in a statement that every encounter with him had been a gift.
