Herbert Blomstedt

Herbert Thorson Blomstedt (; born 11 July 1927) is a Swedish conductor of classical music. He was conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden, the San Francisco Symphony and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. At the age of 99, he continues to conduct concerts in Europe, the United States and Japan; although he cancelled several concerts since suffering a health issue while conducting the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra in May 2026.

Biography Herbert Blomstedt was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, the son of Adolf Blomstedt (1898–1981) and his wife Alida Armintha Thorson (1899–1957). Two years after his birth, his Swedish parents moved the family back to their country of origin. Blomstedt also lived in Finland during his youth. He studied at the Stockholm Royal College of Music and the University of Uppsala, followed by studies of contemporary music at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse in 1949, Baroque music with Paul Sacher at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, and further conducting studies with Igor Markevitch, Jean Morel at the Juilliard School, and Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood's Berkshire Music Center.

He won the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize in 1953 and the Salzburg Conducting Competition in 1955.

Blomstedt is most noted for his performances of German and Austrian composers, such as Beethoven, Felix Mendelssohn, Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert, Anton Bruckner, Richard Strauss and Paul Hindemith, and also as a champion of Nordic composers, such as Edvard Grieg, Franz Berwald, Jean Sibelius and Carl Nielsen.

A devout Seventh-day Adventist, Blomstedt does not rehearse on Friday nights or Saturdays, the Sabbath in Seventh-day Adventism. He does, however, conduct concerts, since he considers actual performances to be an expression of his religious devotion rather than secular work.

He has been Music Director or Principal Conductor of the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra (1954–1962), Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra (1962–1968), Danish Radio Symphony (1967–1977) From 1975 to 1985, he served as chief conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden as well as the Saxon State Opera, in the process making many well-regarded recordings, including works of Richard Strauss and the complete Beethoven and Schubert symphonies, and leading the orchestra on international tours.

Blomstedt was music director of the San Francisco Symphony from 1985 to 1995. After leaving San Francisco full-time, Blomstedt held principal conductorships with the North German Radio Symphony (1996–1998) and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (1998–2005).

Blomstedt holds the title of conductor laureate with the San Francisco Symphony and is honorary conductor of the Bamberg Symphony, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony, Swedish Radio Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra. At age 98, he continues to conduct, and in February 2025, he completed a series of concerts with the San Francisco Symphony. In October 2025, he conducted a series of concerts with the NHK Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. In May 2026, Blomstedt conducted two performances of Gustav Mahler's 9th Symphony with the Detroit Symphony at Orchestra Hall. Also in May 2026, he returned to San Francisco to perform a series of concerts with the same program. Blomstedt conducted the first concert but was unable to complete the series due to health concerns.

In 2026, Blomstedt was honored with a bust in the Stockholm's Berwaldhallen.

Personal life Blomstedt was married to Traute, who died in 2003. They had four daughters.

Awards 1993 and 1996 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance 2014 Rolf Schock Prize – Musical arts 2016 Léonie Sonning Music Prize 2022 Rheingau Musik Preis 2022 Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 2023 Opus Klassik for life's work