The Top 75 Conductors #10: Herbert Blomstedt
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The Top 75 Conductors Series
#10: Herbert Blomstedt
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We arrive at #10 and the remarkable nonagenarian (he is 97 as I write this) and still active Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt. Blomstedt is one of my favorite conductors, and a man of intellect, humility, and artistic integrity. His low-key style and underappreciated musical legacy are a few reasons he deserves more attention. It is my pleasure to share more with you about this accomplished musician.
Herbert Blomstedt (1927 - )
Herbert Blomstedt was born in Springfield, Massachusetts to parents of Swedish descent, and when he was two years old they moved back to Sweden. When he was young, Blomsedt entered the Stockholm Royal College of Music, and later studied contemporary and Baroque music. Blomstedt would eventually study conducting with Igor Markevitch, as well as Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood. His ability as a conductor was well recognized early on, and he won the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize in 1953, as well as the Salzburg Conducting Competition in 1955.
Blomstedt is a Seventh-day Adventist, and throughout his career he has refrained from rehearsing on Friday evenings or Saturdays, although he has exempted conducting concerts since he considers that activity to be his way of expressing his religious devotion, rather than “work”.