On Nov. 4, 2026 Legendary conductor Herbert Blomstedt has died at the age of 99.

The conductor died peacefully at home in Gothenburg, Sweden surrounded by his family.

Blomstedt will be remembered as a remarkable human being, guided by his Seventh-day Adventist faith as well as his wealth of experience and exceptional personal qualities made a lasting impression on everyone who met him.

Lothar Schacke, Honorary Director of KS Gasteig and Herbert Blomstedt’s manager for almost four decades, said, “The loss of Herbert Blomstedt fills me and my colleagues with deep grief. Each encounter with him was a gift, his kindness, knowledge, wisdom, and gentle humour enriching us intellectually and emotionally. Beyond the many beautiful concerts I was fortunate to witness, I have fond memories of the two of us browsing through antique bookstores. The care and affection he showed for his cherished books were part of a much broader quality: the genuine respect, kindness and consideration with which he approached everything and everyone in his life.”

Born on July 11, 1927, in Springfield, Massachusetts, Blomstedt was the the son of Adolf Blomstedt, a Seventh-day Adventist missionary, and his wife Alida Armintha Thorson, a pianist.

Two years after his birth, his Swedish parents moved the family back to their country of origin and Blomstedt went on to be educated in Europe and also lived in Finland during his youth. He went on to study at the Stockholm Royal College of Music and the University of Uppsala and well as at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse.

In 1953, he won the Koussevitzky Conducting Prize and the Salzburg Conducting Competition in 1955.

He went on perform with many of the great orchestras in the world and held important positions with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra (1954–1962), Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra (1962–1968), Danish Radio Symphony (1967–1977)[10] and Swedish Radio Symphony (1977–1982).

From 1975 to 1985, he served as chief conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden as well as the Semperoper Dresden and was also music director of the San Francisco Symphony from 1985 to 1995. After his tenure ended he held the title of conductor laureate with the San Francisco Symphony. He was also an honorary conductor of the Bamberg Symphony, Danish National Symphony Orchestra, NHK Symphony, Swedish Radio Symphony, Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Staatskapelle Dresden, Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra.

He was particularly well-known for conducting German and Austrian composers, such as Beethoven, Felix Mendelssohn, Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert, Anton Bruckner, Richard Strauss and Paul Hindemith, and was also as a champion of Nordic composers, such as Edvard Grieg, Franz Berwald, Jean Sibelius and Carl Nielsen.

Throughout his career he received numerous prizes such as the 1993 and 1996 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance, the Rolf Schock Prize – Musical arts, Léonie Sonning Music Prize, the Opus Klassik  and the Praemium Imperiale in the category Music.