Claus Peter Flor

Leipzig-born in 1953 and trained first as a violinist in Weimar and Leipzig, Claus Peter Flor studied conducting with Rolf Reuter and later took guidance from Rafael Kubelík and Kurt Sanderling. He was chief conductor of the Suhl Philharmonic from 1981 and at thirty-one took charge of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra — today's Konzerthausorchester — where he stayed until 1992. Zurich's Tonhalle Orchestra had him as artistic adviser and principal guest conductor through the first half of the 1990s, as did the Philharmonia; he was principal guest in Dallas from 1999 to 2008, music director of the Malaysian Philharmonic from 2008 to 2014, and music director of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi from 2017 to 2022. Bruckner, Mahler and Richard Strauss sit at the centre of his repertoire, with Brahms, Schumann, Shostakovich, Dvořák and Suk around them. He has appeared with the Sofia Philharmonic. He made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1988 and was principal guest conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi from 2003 to 2008, at Riccardo Chailly's invitation, before returning to that orchestra as music director. In the theatre he has had a long association with the Théâtre du Capitole in Toulouse, where his productions include Meyerbeer's Le Prophète, d'Albert's Tiefland and Die Walküre. His Mendelssohn series with the Bamberg Symphony and, with the Malaysian Philharmonic, Suk's Asrael Symphony in 2009 and Dvořák's Seventh and Eighth in 2012 are among his recordings.