Claus Peter Flor
Conductor
One of the most admired international conductors of our time, Claus Peter Flor has earned critical acclaim for his definitive interpretations of works especially of the European classic and romantic era, including the music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven; Mendelssohn, Mahler and Wagner. His uncompromising search of excellence in orchestral sound in both opera and concert, which includes his passion for Slavic composers, is renowned.
Among the orchestras conducted by Claus Peter Flor are the Berlin Philharmonic, London Symphony Orchestra, Dresden’s Staatskapelle, the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Bamberg Symphony, Philharmonia Orchestra, Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, Vienna’s Tonkünstler Orchestra, Singapore Symphony, and Osaka Philharmonic. He entertains long-standing artistic partnerships with Phion (formerly Het Gelders Orkest and Orkest van het Oosten) with Orchestre philharmonique de Strasbourg, and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano La Verdi.
With the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse and Opéra Toulouse, Claus Peter Flor conducted groundbreaking performances of Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde and Die Walküre, Eugen d’Albert’s Tiefland, Meyerbeer’s Le Prophète, Mozart’s Zauberflöte, Le Nozze di Figaro and Così fan tutte, Puccini’s Madama Butterfly and Gounod’s Faust. At Opéra National du Rhin in Strasbourg he was responsible for, among other works, Wagner’s Siegfried.
From 2003 until 2008 Claus Peter Flor served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano. He was subsequently the Chief Conductor of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, producing numerous award-winning recordings with the orchestra (with BIS label) from 2008 until 2014.
Mr. Flor was Guest Conductor of Philharmonia London and, during the same period of 1991 to 1994, Permanent Guest Conductor of the Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, while the orchestra was without chief conductor. From 1984 until 1992 Claus Peter Flor had served as Chief Conductor, as of 1985 also as Music Director, of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra (later renamed Konzerthaus-Orchester), taking the orchestra on some of its first international tours to the UK, Austria, Switzerland, Japan, the United States, and France, among others. He also conducted the inaugural concert of Berlin’s Konzerthaus on Gendarmenmarkt. Earlier in his career, from 1981 until 1984, Claus Peter Flor had been Chief Conductor of Thüringer Philharmonie Suhl.
Numerous standard-setting recordings have been led by Claus Peter Flor, including the complete recording of Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy’s orchestral works (on RCA), Pfitzner’s opera Das Christelflein (on cpo, featuring Marlis Petersen), works by Smetana and Dvořák with the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra (on BIS Records), and Bruch’s Moses with the Bamberg Symphony (on Orfeo). He recorded all Beethoven piano concertos with Berlin’s Konzerthaus Orchestra and soloist Peter Rösel (Berlin Records). For SONY Classical he recorded Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet and for RCA Records he conducted the recording of orchestral works by César Franck with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Claus Peter Flor was born in Leipzig in 1953. After completing his studies of the violin and clarinet in Weimar und Leipzig, taking his violin exam at Hochschule für Musik Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy in Leipzig. He studied conducting with Rolf Reuter and Kurt Masur, winning the national Mendelssohn Scholarship for his outstanding academic record. Rafael Kubelik and Kurt Sanderling later became important supporters in his conducting career.
