Kurt Sanderling's Biography

Sanderling studied in Königsberg and Berlin (1922-31), made his debut as répétiteur at the Städtische Oper in Berlin where he worked from 1931 to 1933 and then went to the Berlin Jewish Cultural Federation. In 1936 he left Germany, going to Moscow Radio as assistant to Georges Sebastian (until 1939); it was here that he made his conducting debut in 1937. From 1939 to 1942 he was conductor of the Kharkov Philharmonic Orchestra before he took over the direction of the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra in collaboration with Evgeny A. Mravinsky. He also taught at the Leningrad Conservatory from 1945 to 1947. In 1960 he returned to Berlin and became chief conductor of the East Berlin Symphony Orchestra (until 1977). From 1964 to 1967 he was also the conductor of the Dresden Staatskapelle. Since 1977 he has been in great demand as a guest conductor all over the world. From 1979 he worked regularly with the Nippon Symphony Orchestra in Tokyo. Concert tours have taken him to Japan, the USA, New Zealand, Australia and Canada. In 1991 he conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra in Birmingham. Kurt Sanderling has been responsible for numerous first performances of works by Siegfried Matthus, Ernst Hermann Meyer, Rudolf Wagner-Regeny and Dieter Zechlin.

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