No one conducted for as long as he did: the music world mourns the loss of Herbert Blomstedt

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He succeeded the world-famous Leipzig Gewandhaus conductor Kurt Masur. And, like Masur, he died far from his former place of work. Herbert Blomstedt died on Wednesday at the age of 99 in Gothenburg, Sweden, surrounded by his family, according to a statement from his office.

The Swedish conductor had lived in Lucerne for decades, even whilst serving in Leipzig, and had only returned to Sweden in his later years. With Blomstedt’s passing, the Gewandhaus Orchestra loses a former principal conductor who continued to visit Leipzig regularly even after stepping down from his post. Blomstedt led the Gewandhaus Orchestra from 1998 to 2005. Alongside works by German and Austrian composers, he increasingly featured music from Scandinavia in the programme, including symphonies by Jean Sibelius, Carl Nielsen and Wilhelm Stenhammar. He remained associated with the orchestra as a conductor emeritus after 2005.

Among the highlights of this collaboration was the four-week tour of Europe and Asia, which he conducted in 2017 to mark the Gewandhaus Orchestra’s 275th anniversary. He also recorded all nine Beethoven symphonies with the Leipzig orchestra. The city of Leipzig awarded him its Medal of Honour in 2017. In 2022, he was awarded the Grand Cross with Star of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany at the Gewandhaus.

Just how close his relationship with Leipzig remained right up to the end was evident as recently as last year. On 18, 19 and 21 September 2025, he conducted Anton Bruckner’s Ninth Symphony at the Gewandhaus. On 22 September, the music platform Bachtrack published a review headlined ‘Herbert Blomstedt overwhelms with Bruckner’s Ninth in Leipzig’. These were his final concerts in the city.

He had already confirmed his next performances for September this year. On 17, 18 and 20 September, he was due to perform Bruckner’s Eighth with the Gewandhaus Orchestra. However, in August, the Gewandhaus had to announce that Blomstedt would be unable to conduct for health reasons. Blomstedt’s final performance took place on 15 May this year in San Francisco.

Herbert Blomstedt was born on 11 July 1927 in Springfield, Massachusetts, USA. His parents were Swedish; his father was a minister and his mother a pianist. He grew up in Sweden and Finland. He studied the violin, musicology and conducting in Stockholm, Uppsala and the United States. Among others, he received tuition from Leonard Bernstein and Igor Markevitch. He made his professional debut as a conductor in 1954 with the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.

When asked about the start of his career, he replied to his colleague and MDR culture expert Claus Fischer in an interview: “When I first conducted at the Berwald Hall in Stockholm, fresh out of university, I looked out into the auditorium and thought: ‘Oh dear, nothing but old people!’ Today I conduct at the Gewandhaus, look out into the auditorium and think: ‘Oh dear, it’s still the same old people!’”

After holding several posts in Scandinavia, he came to Dresden in 1975. He led the Sächsische Staatskapelle for ten years before moving to San Francisco as music director in 1985. He remained there for another ten years. From 1996 to 1998, he was principal conductor of the NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg, after which his tenure in Leipzig began.