Herbert Blomstedt, revered conductor, dies at 99

Herbert Blomstedt passed away at his residence in Gothenburg, Sweden, on November 4, his management company announced. The Swedish-American conductor’s career spanned more than seven decades, and he continued to accept engagements into his late 90s. His final concert was with the San Francisco Symphony in May, conducting Mahler’s Ninth Symphony. He was wheeled onto the stage, and the concert stopped briefly in the third movement. He later canceled his remaining appearances scheduled for this year.

Blomstedt led the San Francisco Symphony from 1985 to 1995, after heading Germany’s Staatskapelle Dresden. He later became music director of Leipzig’s Gewandhaus Orchestra, serving from 1998 to 2005. Earlier posts included leadership roles with orchestras in Sweden, Norway and Denmark. Recordings he made with the San Francisco Symphony won Grammy Awards for Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” and Brahms’ “Ein Deutsches Requiem.”

A Seventh-day Adventist, Blomstedt did not rehearse on Friday evenings or Saturdays, observing the Sabbath. He did conduct concerts on those days, seeing music-making as a spiritual practice. Born in Springfield, Massachusetts, to Swedish parents on July 11, 1927, he moved with his family to Sweden in 1929. He studied music in Stockholm and Uppsala, and later worked with Jean Morel and Leonard Bernstein. His wife, Waltraud, died in 2003. He leaves four daughters and seven grandchildren.