Herbert Blomstedt
Encyclopedia
Herbert Blomstedt 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 composers, such as Beethoven
, Felix Mendelssohn
, Franz Schubert
, Anton Bruckner
and Richard Strauss
, and also as a champion of Scandinavia
n composers, such as Edvard Grieg
, Franz Berwald
, Jean Sibelius
and Carl Nielsen
.
A devout Seventh-day Adventist
, Blomstedt does not rehearse on Friday nights or Saturdays, the Sabbath in Seventh-day Adventism
. He does, however, conduct concerts, since he considers actual performances to be an expression of his religious devotion rather than work.
He has been Music Director or Principal Conductor of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra
(1954-1962), Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra
(1962-1968), Danish Radio Symphony
(1967-1977) and Swedish Radio Symphony
(1977-1982). From 1975-1985, he served as chief conductor of the Dresdner Staatskapelle
, 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.
Blomstedt was music director of the San Francisco Symphony
from 1985 to 1995. He led the orchestra on regular tours of Europe and Asia, and made numerous prize-winning recordings for London/Decca
, winning two Grammy Awards, a Gramophone Award and a Grand Prix du Disque
, as well as awards from Belgium, Germany and Japan. After leaving San Francisco full time, Blomstedt held principal conductorships with the North German Radio Symphony (1996-1998) and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
(1998-2005).
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.
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
conductor
Conducting
Conducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble...
.
Springfield, Massachusetts
Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...
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
Darmstadt
Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Rhine Main Area.The sandy soils in the Darmstadt area, ill-suited for agriculture in times before industrial fertilisation, prevented any larger settlement from developing, until the city became the seat...
in 1949, Baroque music with Paul Sacher
Paul Sacher
Paul Sacher was a Swiss conductor, patron and impresario.-Biography:He studied under Felix Weingartner, among others. In 1926 he founded the Basel Chamber Orchestra to play works written before the classical period and modern works...
at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis
Schola Cantorum Basiliensis
Schola Cantorum Basiliensis is a music academy and research institution located in Basel, Switzerland, and focusing on early music and historically informed performance....
, and further conducting studies with Igor Markevitch
Igor Markevitch
Igor Markevitch was a Ukrainian, Italian, and French composer and conductor.- Origin :Igor Markevich was born in Kiev, to an old family of Ukrainian Cossack starshyna ennobled in the 18th century...
, Jean Morel at the Juilliard School
Juilliard School
The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...
, and Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
at Tanglewood
Tanglewood
Tanglewood is an estate and music venue in Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts. It is the home of the annual summer Tanglewood Music Festival and the Tanglewood Jazz Festival, and has been the Boston Symphony Orchestra's summer home since 1937. It was the venue of the Berkshire Festival.- History...
'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 composers, such as Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
, Felix Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
, Franz Schubert
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
, Anton Bruckner
Anton Bruckner
Anton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony, and considerable length...
and Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
, and also as a champion of Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n composers, such as Edvard Grieg
Edvard Grieg
Edvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...
, Franz Berwald
Franz Berwald
Franz Adolf Berwald was a Swedish Romantic composer who was generally ignored during his lifetime. He made his living as an orthopedic surgeon and later as the manager of a saw mill and glass factory....
, Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius
Jean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."...
and Carl Nielsen
Carl Nielsen
Carl August Nielsen , , widely recognised as Denmark's greatest composer, was also a conductor and a violinist. Brought up by poor but musically talented parents on the island of Funen, he demonstrated his musical abilities at an early age...
.
A devout Seventh-day Adventist
Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
, Blomstedt does not rehearse on Friday nights or Saturdays, the Sabbath in Seventh-day Adventism
Sabbath in Seventh-day Adventism
Sabbath is an important part of the belief and practice of seventh-day Christians. These believers observe Sabbath on the seventh Hebrew day of the week, from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset, in similar manner as in Judaism, rather than Lord's day on Sunday like a most forms of Christianity...
. He does, however, conduct concerts, since he considers actual performances to be an expression of his religious devotion rather than work.
He has been Music Director or Principal Conductor of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra
Norrköping Symphony Orchestra
Norrköping Symphony Orchestra is a Swedish professional symphony orchestra, based at the concert hall De Geerhallen, in the middle of Norrköping.-History:...
(1954-1962), Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra
Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra
The Oslo-Filharmonien is a symphony orchestra based in Oslo, Norway. The orchestra was founded in 1919, and has since 1977 had its home in the Oslo Concert Hall. The orchestra consists of 69 musicians in the string section, 16 in the woodwinds, 15 in brass, 5 in percussionists, 1 harpist, and 1...
(1962-1968), Danish Radio Symphony
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
The Danish National Symphony Orchestra , is a Danish orchestra based in Copenhagen. The DNSO is the principal orchestra of DR...
(1967-1977) and Swedish Radio Symphony
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra is a radio orchestra based in Stockholm, Sweden, and affiliated with Sveriges Radio . The orchestra broadcasts concerts on the Swedish Radio-P2 network....
(1977-1982). From 1975-1985, he served as chief conductor of the Dresdner Staatskapelle
Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden
The Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden is an orchestra based in Dresden, Germany founded in 1548 by Kurfürst Moritz of Saxony. It is one of the world's oldest orchestras...
, 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.
Blomstedt was music director of the San Francisco Symphony
San Francisco Symphony
The San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
from 1985 to 1995. He led the orchestra on regular tours of Europe and Asia, and made numerous prize-winning recordings for London/Decca
London Records
London Records, referred to as London Recordings in logo, is a record label headquartered in the United Kingdom, originally marketing records in the United States, Canada and Latin America from 1947 to 1979, then becoming a semi-independent label....
, winning two Grammy Awards, a Gramophone Award and a Grand Prix du Disque
Grand Prix du Disque
The Grand Prix du Disque is the premier French award for musical recordings. The award was inaugurated by l'Académie Charles Cros in 1948 and offers prizes in various categories. The categories vary from year to year, and multiple awards are often made in any one category in the same year...
, as well as awards from Belgium, Germany and Japan. After leaving San Francisco full time, Blomstedt held principal conductorships with the North German Radio Symphony (1996-1998) and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra is one of the the oldest symphony orchestras in the world...
(1998-2005).
Blomstedt is currently Conductor Laureate of the San Francisco Symphony and Honorary Conductor of the Bamberg Symphony, Danish National Symphony Orchestra
Danish National Symphony Orchestra
The Danish National Symphony Orchestra , is a Danish orchestra based in Copenhagen. The DNSO is the principal orchestra of DR...
, NHK Symphony, Swedish Radio Symphony and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.
External links
- Herbert Blomstedt biography at the San Francisco SymphonySan Francisco SymphonyThe San Francisco Symphony is an orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980, the orchestra has performed at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall. The San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus are part of the organization...
- Herbert Blomstedt - a perspective as of 1998 (includes discography, quotes and concert schedules)
- Bamberg Symphony Honorary Conductor
- Danish Radio Symphony Honorary Conductor
- NHK Symphony Honorary Conductor
- Swedish Radio Symphony Honorary Conductor
- CAMI Artist Page
- DECCA Artist Page