Conductor Herbert Blomstedt Forced to Withdraw from Further Appearances

The 96-year-old Swedish conductor is recovering in hospital after a fall

The Swedish conductor Herbert Blomstedt has suffered a fall, and as a consequence, will withdraw from a number of his planned concert appearances through to at least February 2024. According to a statement from the San Francisco Symphony, Blomstedt is "currently being treated in hospital after a fall and has been advised by his doctors to cancel his concert engagements until further notice."

The Finnish conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste will step in to replace Blomstedt for a program of Beethoven and Schubert on February 4 - 6, 2024. He will also cover performances at the Cleveland Orchestra on February 9 - 11.

At Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie on December 15, Blomstedt was replaced by the young Latvian conductor Aivis Greters for a program containing Mozart's Symphony No. 41 "Jupiter" and Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4.

The 96-year-old conductor last had to pull out of a concert appearance with the Bamberg Symphony in November 2023, on account of ill health.

Blomstedt has served principal positions with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Danish Radio Symphony, Swedish Radio Symphony, Dresdner Staatskapelle, San Francisco Symphony, North German Radio Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhausorchester, Bamberg Symphony, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony Orchestra, Swedish Radio Symphony, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

He is particularly lauded for his interpretations of Austro-German and Scandinavian repertoire — from Beethoven and Bruckner to Grieg and Nielsen.