Kurt Masur

One of the most respected and admired artists of his generation, Kurt Masur is a regular guest conductor with the foremost orchestras of North America and Europe. Born in Brieg (Silesia) in 1927, Kurt Masur studied piano, composition and conducting at the Leipzig Conservatory. In 1955, he had his first important engagement conducting the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra. From 1970 to 1996, he was Music Director of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, a post occupied in the past by such prestigious personalities as F Felix Mendelssohn, Arthur Nikisch, Wilhem Furtwängler and Bruno Walter. When he resigned his functions in 1996, the Gewandhaus Orchestra awarded him, for the first time of its history, the honorary title of Conductor Emeritus. In 1989, the key role he played in the pacifist demonstrations that led to the reunification of Germany brought him worldwide attention. His close and intensive collaboration with the New-York Philharmonic Orchestra, whose Music Director he was from 1991