Herbert Blomstedt

Herbert Blomstedt (born July 11 1927) is a Swedish conductor.

Herbert Blomstedt was born in Springfield, Massachusetts and two years after his birth, his Swedish parents moved the family back to their country of origin. He studied at the Stockholm Royal College of Music and the University of Uppsala, followed by studies of contemporary music at Darmstadt in 1949, Baroque music with Paul Sacher at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, and further conducting studies with Igor Markevitch, Jean Morel at the Juilliard School, and Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood's Berkshire Music Center.

He won the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize in 1953 and the Salzburg Conducting Competition in 1955.

Blomstedt is most noted for his performances of German and Austrian music, such as Beethoven, Felix Mendelssohn, Franz Schubert, Anton Bruckner and Richard Strauss, and Nordic music, such as Edvard Grieg, Jean Sibelius and Carl Nielsen.

A devout Seventh-day Adventist, Blomstedt does not rehearse on Saturdays, the Sabbath in Seventh-day Adventism. He does, however, perform concerts, since he does not consider this to be work.

He has been Music Director or Principal Conductor of the Norrköping Symphony (beginning 1954), Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra (1962-1968), Danish Radio Symphony (1967-1977) and Swedish Radio Symphony (1977-1982). From 1975-1985, he was invited by the musicians of the Dresden Staatskapelle to become their chief conductor, in the process making many well-regarded recordings, including works of Richard Strauss and the complete Beethoven and Schubert symphonies, and leading the orchestra on international tours.

During the decade of 1985 through 1995, Blomstedt raised the San Francisco Symphony to international status through regular tours of Europe and Asia and numerous prize-winning recordings for London/Decca, winning two Grammy Awards, a Gramophone Award and a Grand Prix du Disque, was well as awards from Belgium, Germany and Japan. Arguably, his best-reviewed recordings were those of the complete symphonies of Carl Nielsen and various works by Paul Hindemith. Blomstedt was much beloved during his tenure and continues, as of 2008, to lead the Symphony in subscription concerts.

After leaving San Francisco full time, Blomstedt took over the North German Radio Symphony (1996-1998) and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (1998-2005).

Maestro Blomstedt is currently Conductor Laureate of the San Francisco Symphony and Honorary Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony, Swedish Radio Symphony and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

External links

*allmusic|41:13670~t1
* [http://www.sfsymphony.org/templates/conductor.asp?nodeid=76 Herbert Blomstedt biography] at the San Francisco Symphony
* [http://www.sonic.net/~matthewv/blomstedt/index.html Herbert Blomstedt - a perspective as of 1998 (includes discography, quotes and concert schedules)]
* [http://www.bamberger-symphoniker.de/ehrendirigenten.html?&L=1 Bamberg Symphony Honorary Conductor]
* [http://www.dr.dk/Orkestre/DR%20Radiosymfoniorkestret/RSO%20in%20English/Conductors/herbertblomstedt.htm Danish Radio Symphony Honorary Conductor]
* [http://www.nhkso.or.jp/en/profile.html NHK Symphony Honorary Conductor]
* [http://www.sr.se/cgi-bin/berwaldhallen/program/artikel.asp?ProgramID=2555&Artikel=1186930 Swedish Radio Symphony Honorary Conductor]
* [http://www.cami.com/?webid=44 CAMI Artist Page]
* [http://www.deccaclassics.com/artists/blomstedt/ DECCA Artist Page]