Born in the United States to Swedish parents, Herbert Blomstedt received his initial musical training at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm and at the University of Uppsala. He went on to study conducting at the Juilliard School in New York, contemporary music in Darmstadt and renaissance and baroque music at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis. He worked with Igor Markevich in Salzburg and Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood.
Blomstedt made his debut as conductor in 1954 – exactly 50 years ago – with the Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. He then served as principal conductor of outstanding Scandinavian orchestras such as the Oslo Philharmonic and the Swedish and Danish radio orchestras, directing the latter until 1983. From 1975 to 1985 he was principal conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden, which he took on tours across Europe, the United States and Japan.
As a guest conductor Herbert Blomstedt has led the Bamberg Symphony, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the London Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic. He has been named Conductor Laureate by the NHK Symphony.
Following a series of successful concerts with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra he was elected music director of this renowned body of players from 1985/86. Blomstedt led guest performances of this orchestra at major European concert venues and festivals including Edinburgh, Salzburg, Munich and Lucerne, winning much critical acclaim. In 1990, 1993 and 1995 he undertook highly successful tours of Europe’s foremost musical centres. His ten-year tenure in San Francisco ended in June 1995. From 1996 and 1998 Blomstedt served as principal conductor of the NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg. At the beginning of the 1998/99 season he succeeded Kurt Masur as principal conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig.
With the Dresden Staatskapelle, Herbert Blomstedt has recorded over 130 works, including all the symphonies of Beethoven and Schubert. He recorded the complete orchestral works of Carl Nielsen with the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The exclusive contract which he and the San Francisco Symphony signed with Decca in 1987 produced numerous award-winning and exemplary recordings, including all the symphonies of Jean Sibelius and Carl Nielsen. In 1995 Herbert Blomstedt began recording with the Gewandhaus Orchestra for Decca.
Herbert Blomstedt is an elected member of the Royal Swedish Music Academy and the recipient of several honorary doctorates. In the autumn of 2003 the German President awarded him the Grand Federal Service Cross.
