Orchestra conductor Kurt Masur dies at 88

The New York Philharmonic orchestra itself made the announcement of Kurt Masur’s death, saying he’d created a golden age for the institution.

Kurt Masur, the German music conductor credited with revitalizing the New York Philharmonic into an orchestra of global renown, died Saturday, the Philharmonic said.

“Maestro Masur’s 11-year tenure, one of the longest in the Philharmonic’s history, both set a standard and left a legacy that lives on today”, New York Philharmonic President Matthew VanBesien said in a statement.

Masur also spent 26 years leading the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in eastern Germany.

In the celebrations marking the reunification of Germany on 3 October 1990 Kurt Masur directed a performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony in Berlin. If you would like to discuss another topic, look for a relevant article.

“The ethical and moral dimensions that he brought to his conducting are still palpable in the musicians’ playing, and I, along with the Philharmonic’s audiences, have much to thank him for”, Gilbert said.

Masur had maintained close relations with East German authorities yet was not a Communist Party member and identified as Christian.

When Masur took over as the music director in 1991, he was saddled with an orchestra that had seen better days. When his name surfaced during the search for a new German president in the early 1990s, Masur said he wasn’t interested.

“We have lost a musical genius, a fascinating conductor of top world rank, and a great humanist”, he said.

After East German leader Erich Honecker stepped down, Masur wrote him a letter to thank him for his support to the orchestra, drawing criticism from regime opponents. A year later he fell in Tel Aviv, breaking his hip.

Masur was again hailed for mastering the moment after the September 11, 2001 attacks scarred NY. He led the Philharmonic in Brahms’ “German Requiem” in a nationally televised memorial service. “And many are quite desperate”. He soon ushered in bigger promotions for the orchestra, a more rigorous work ethic for the musicians, improvements to the aging acoustics of the philharmonic’s home (the Avery Fisher Hall), outreach that helped to diversify the audience and new works from renowned composers, Sofia Gubaidulina and Hans Werner Henze among them.

After his retirement as director of the New York Philharmonic, he became only the second man, after Leonard Bernstein, to be given an honorary title – in his case, music director emeritus.

The New York Philharmonic said in a statement that Masur died at hospital in Greenwich, Connecticut, from complications of Parkinson’s disease.

Masur also worked with orchestras around the world, including the London Philharmonic and the Orchestre National de France.