KLAUS TENNSTEDT Biography - Craftmen, artisans and people from other Occupations

 
 

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KLAUS TENNSTEDT

Name: Klaus Tennstedt                                                               
Born: June 6, 1926                                                                 
Died: January 11, 1998                                                             
                                                                                     
Klaus Tennstedt (June 6, 1926 - January 11, 1998) was a German conductor from       
Merseburg. He studied violin and piano at the Leipzig Conservatory. He became       
concertmaster of the orchestra at the Halle Municipal Theatre in 1948. However,     
a finger injury stopped his career as a violinist, and afterwards he worked as a   
coach to singers at the same theatre. Tennstedt then directed his talents toward   
conducting. In 1958, he became music director of the Dresden Opera, and in 1962,   
music director of the Schwerin State Orchestra and Theatre.                         
                                                                                     
Tennstedt emigrated from East Germany in 1971 and obtained asylum in Sweden. He     
conducted in Gothenburg with the Göteborg Theatre and in Stockholm with the       
Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 1972, he became General Music Director of     
the Kiel Opera in Northern Germany. From 1979 to 1982, he served as Chief           
Conductor of the North German Radio Orchestra in Hamburg.