On Oct. 16, conductor Bernhard Klee died at the age of 89.

Born on April 19, 1936, in Schleiz, Thuringia, Klee grew up in Jena and learned to play the piano, violin, and double bass. He was a member of the Leipzig Thomanerchor from 1948 to 1955, and at the age of 10, he heard his first Mozart opera, “Le nozze di Figaro,” which would shape him profoundly. He went on to study at the State Academy of Music in Cologne.

Klee’s career began in 1957, when he became the répétiteur at the Cologne Opera under Otto Ackermann and in 1958, moved to the Stadttheater Bern. He would become the assistant to Wolfgang Sawallisch in Cologne and made his conducting debut in 1960 with Mozart’s “Die Zauberflöte.”

His first positions as conductor were Kapellmeister at the Landestheater Salzburg (1962-63), Theater Oberhausen (1963–1965), and Staatsoper Hannover (1965-66).

From 1966 to 1973, Klee held his first leading position as General Music Director at the Theater Lübeck, and went on to perform Romantic composers and representatives of classical modernism, such as Igor Stravinsky, Béla Bartók, and Dmitri Shostakovich.

In 1968, Klee made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and later made his debut with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra in 1979, where he became a regular guest. He also appeared with the Hamburg State Opera, BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Proms, London Symphony Orchestra, and Salzburg Festival.

His US debut came during the 1973-74 season when Daniel Barenboim withdrew from his commitment to the New York Philharmonic and went on to perform with other US orchestras, including the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.

Throughout his career, Klee served as chief conductor of the Radiophilharmonie Hannover from 1976 to 1979, and again from 1991 to 1995 and led the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra from 1977 to 1987. He was also the principal guest conductor of the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra in Manchester from 1985 to 1989 and was a guest conductor of the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Halle in 1997.

Klee was responsible for conducting the premieres of many pieces, including Henze’s Second Violin Concerto and Heliogabalus Imperator as well as works by Wolfgang Fortner, Manfred Trojahn, Detlev Müller-Siemens, and Hans-Jürgen von Bose. He also left numerous recordings, including Mozart’s “Zaide” and Nicolai’s “Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor,” among others.