Biography

Herbert Blomstedt was born in the USA, he began his musical education at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm and at the University of Uppsala.

He later studied conducting at the Juilliard School in New York, contemporary music in Darmstadt and renaissance and baroque music at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. He worked with Igor Markevitch in Salzburg and Leonard Bernstein in Tanglewood. More than 60 years ago, in February 1954, Herbert Blomstedt made his debut as conductor with the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra then he has served as chief conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic and the Swedish and Danish Radio Orchestras.

From 1975 to 1985 he was chief conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden.  Herbert Blomstedt is Conductor Laureate of the San Francisco Symphony where he served as Music Director from 1985 to 1995.

From 1996 to 1998, Maestro Blomstedt was Music Director of the NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg. In 1998 he assumed the position of Music Director of the Gewandhausorchester in Leipzig, a post which he held until 2005. As Honorary Conductor of this orchestra, he returns to Leipzig regularly. Five more orchestras awarded him the title of Honorary Conductor: NHK Symphony Orchestra in Japan, the Danish National Symphony and the Swedish Radio Symphony as well as the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra and, most recently, in May 2016, the Staatskapelle Dresden, after already having presented him with their Golden Badge of Honour in 2007.

In addition to his commitments with these orchestras, he continues guest conducting the world's most pre-eminent orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, Philharmonia Orchestra, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic and Los Angeles Philharmonic. In 2011, a late debut saw him performing with the Vienna Philharmonic which immediately resulted in a regular collaboration.

Herbert Blomstedt's extensive discography includes over 130 works with the Dresden Staatskapelle, amongst them all symphonies of Beethoven and Schubert, as well as the complete orchestral works of Carl Nielsen with the Danish Radio Symphony.  In 2014, DECCA released a 15 CD box The San Francisco Years, offering a representative selection of Herbert Blomstedt's tenure in San Francisco.

He is leading the orchestra in the production of a complete cycle of Beethoven's symphonies, released to mark the occasion of his 90th birthday in July 2017.

He holds several Honorary Doctorates and is an elected member of the Royal Swedish Music Academy. In 2003 he was awarded the German Federal Cross of Merit. In April 2016, he received the prestigious Danish Léonie Sonning Music Prize for his lifetime achievement.

(source Gewandhaus zu Leipzig)