No. 2047 Subscription (Program C)

In more than seventy years of his career, Herbert Blomstedt has acquired the unrestricted respect of the musical world. His work as a conductor is inseparably linked to his religious and human ethos, and his interpretations combine great faithfulness to the score and analytical precision, with a soulfulness that awakens the music to pulsating life.
Born in the USA to Swedish parents and educated in Uppsala, New York, Darmstadt and Basel, Herbert Blomstedt gave his conducting debut in 1954 with the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and subsequently served as Chief Conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic, the Swedish and Danish Radio Orchestras, and the Staatskapelle Dresden. Later, he became Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony, Chief Conductor of the NDR Sinfonieorchester Hamburg (now NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra) and Music Director of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. His former orchestras in San Francisco, Leipzig, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Dresden all honored him with the title of Conductor Laureate. Since 2019, he is an Honorary Member of the Wiener Philharmoniker.
Herbert Blomstedt holds several Honorary Doctorates, is an elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music and was awarded the German Great Cross of Merit with Star. Over the years, all leading orchestras around the globe have been fortunate to secure the services of the highly respected Swedish conductor. At the high age of 98, he continues to be at the helm of all leading international orchestras with enormous presence, verve and artistic drive.
Since performing together for the first time in 1981, Herbert Blomstedt has been conducting the NHK Symphony Orchestra almost every year for over 40 years; he was Honorary Conductor 1986–2016, and currently Honorary Laureate. His previous appearance was in October 2024.

With his commanding technique and searching interpretations, the celebrated Norwegian pianist Leif Ove Andsnes has won acclaim worldwide, playing concertos and recitals in the world’s leading concert halls and orchestras. An avid chamber musician, he is the founding director of the Rosendal Chamber Music Festival, co-artistic director of the Risør Chamber Music Festival for nearly two decades and served as music director of California’s Ojai Music Festival in 2012. He has released more than 50 CDs, for which he has received the Gramophone Award seven times.
Highlights of recent seasons have included performances of Beethoven’s “Emperor” Concerto with the New York Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and on tour with the Oslo Philharmonic, and Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 3 with ensembles including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Paris, and with the Berlin Philharmonic at Baden-Baden’s Easter Festival. Recitals featuring Chopin’s 24 Preludes with piano sonatas by Norwegians Edvard Grieg and Geirr Tveitt have also taken him across Europe and the U. S.
Leif Ove Andsnes collaborates regularly with the NHK Symphony Orchestra, most recently in October 2023, and he has three times been voted “Most Memorable Soloist” by the audience.