Eri Klas

Eri Klas (7 June 1939 – 26 February 2016) was an Estonian conductor. He conducted or served as artistic director for the Estonian National Opera, the Finnish National Opera, the Danish Symphony Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra, the Tallinn Philharmonic, and the Novaya Opera.

Life Klas was born in Tallinn on 7 June 1939 into a Jewish family. His mother was the concert pianist Anna Klas. His father, Eduard Klas, was killed in 1941, during the Holocaust.

Klas joined the Estonian State Symphony Orchestra in 1959, where he played percussion. He trained to be a choir conductor at the Tallinn Conservatory at the same time, graduating in 1964 to train in orchestra conducting at the Leningrad Conservatory. He left the Estonian State Symphony Orchestra in 1965 when he became conductor of the Estonian National Opera. He was made the opera's artistic director and principal conductor in 1975.