Herbert Blomstedt has died at his home in Gothenburg, Sweden, aged 99. The Swedish-American conductor’s career began with the Stockholm Philharmonic in 1954 and included long tenures in San Francisco and Leipzig. He continued performing into his late nineties, conducting Mahler’s Ninth Symphony at his final concert in San Francisco in May. He was 98 at the time.
Conductor Herbert Blomstedt has died aged 99 at his home in Gothenburg, Sweden. His manager for nearly four decades, Lothar Schacke, announced the death. Born in Massachusetts in the United States in July 1927 to Swedish parents, Blomstedt grew up in Sweden and Finland. He studied conducting with musicians including Igor Markevitch, Jean Morel and Leonard Bernstein before making his debut with the Stockholm Philharmonic orchestra in 1954.[1], [2]
Blomstedt led the Oslo Philharmonic in Norway from 1962 to 1968 and the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1967 to 1977. His next long appointments included the Staatskapelle Dresden orchestra in Germany from 1975 to 1985 and the San Francisco Symphony in the United States from 1985 to 1995. He subsequently headed Germany’s Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra between 1998 and 2005.[1]
His final concert took place in San Francisco in May, when he was 98. He was conducting Mahler’s Ninth Symphony, and the performance was temporarily interrupted after a health incident during the third movement. He had conducted the same symphony at his final London appearance in November 2024. His recorded repertoire included complete Sibelius and Nielsen symphony cycles; his honours included two Grammy awards and a Gramophone award.[1]
