According to the Bavarian State Opera, conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch, who also served as Directeur Artistique of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (OSR) in the 1970s, has died at his home in Grassau, Upper Bavaria.
Wolfgang Sawallisch was born in Munich in 1923. He began his conducting career at the Städtische Bühnen Augsburg. From 1953, he held music director positions in Aachen, Wiesbaden and Cologne. He taught a conducting master class as a professor at the Cologne University of Music.
From 1960 to 1970, he was General Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, and was also Chief Conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. From 1973 to 1980, Sawallisch was Directeur Artistique of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande in Geneva.
In 1971 he became Bavarian General Music Director, and in 1982 also Artistic Director of the Bavarian State Opera, of which he was made an honorary member in 1992 after his retirement. From 1993 to 2003, Wolfgang Sawallisch was Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra in the USA.
Image: © University Musical Society, Creative Commons
