Conductor Herbert Blomstedt has died today in Gothenburg, Sweden. He was 99 years old.
Mr. Blomstedt was born in Massachusetts in 1927. Two years later, his parents moved the entire family back to their native Sweden, where he spent the majority of his youth.
He won the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize (1953) and the Salzburg Conducting Competition (1955). His subsequent career would last over 70 years, and include leadership positions with the Danish Radio Symphony, Swedish Radio Symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden, and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.
He is best known in the United States as Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony (1985 – 1995), after which he was named Conductor Laureate. His final concert ever was in May 2026 with the SFS at Davies Symphony Hall, leading a performance of Mahler’s 9th Symphony.
For many years, he was also a regular and much beloved guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic. His last appearances at Walt Disney Concert Hall were in March 2018 in a program of the Sibelius 2nd Symphony and the Beethoven 2nd Symphony. He was scheduled to return in 2021 to lead performances of the Schumann Piano Concerto featuring Hélène Grimaud and the Nielsen 5th Symphony, but those were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Rest in peace.
Some obituaries:
- National Public Radio: https://www.npr.org/2026/11/04/nx-s1-5740271/herbert-blomstedt-conductor-dead
- San Francisco Chronicle (behind paywall): https://www.sfchronicle.com/entertainment/classical/article/herbert-blomstedt-former-s-f-symphony-music-22512089.php
- The New York Times (behind paywall): https://www.nytimes.com/2026/11/04/arts/music/herbert-blomstedt-dead.html
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Photo credit: courtesy of the Los Angeles Philharmonic Association
