Blomstedt, Herbert (Thorson)
Blomstedt, Herbert (Thorson)
Blomstedt, Herbert (Thorson), prominent American-born Swedish conductor; b. Springfield, Mass, (of Swedish parents), July 11, 1927. He took courses at the Stockholm Musikhògskolan and at the Univ. of Uppsala; after conducting lessons with Markevitch in Paris, he continued his training with Morel at the Juilliard School of Music in N.Y. and with Bernstein at the Berkshire Music Center in Tanglewood, where he won the Koussevitzky Prize in 1953. In 1954 he made his professional conducting debut with the Stockholm Phil., then was music director of the Norrko-ping Sym. Orch. (1954–61); he subsequently held the post of first conductor of the Oslo Phil. (1962–68) while being concurrently active as a conductor with the Danish Radio Sym. Orch. in Copenhagen, where he served as chief conductor from 1967 to 1977. From 1975 to 1985 he was chief conductor of the Dresden Staatskapelle, with which he toured Europe and the U.S. (1979, 1983). From 1977 to 1983 he was chief conductor of the Swedish Radio Sym. Orch. in Stockholm. From 1985 to 1995 he was music director of the San Francisco Sym., leading it at its 75th-anniversary gala concert in 1986 and on a tour of Europe in 1987. In 1996 he became chief conductor of the North German Radio Sym. Orch. in Hamburg. He has also appeared as a guest conductor with many of the principal orchs. of the world.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire