Famous East German dissident and maestro Kurt Masur dead

Masur’s distinguished musical career saw him rise from an orchestra coach at a theatre in communist East Germany to roles including music director of the New York Philharmonic and principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. New York Philharmonic President Matthew VanBesien said he had “set a standard” and had “left a legacy that lives on today”. 

“Masur had profound belief in music as an expression of humanism,” VanBesien said. “We felt this powerfully in the wake of 9/11, when he led the Philharmonic in a moving performance.” The London Philharmonic Orchestra said on its Twitter account that Masur was “a true musical legend, he will be greatly missed”.

Born in 1927 in the Silesian town of Brieg, (now in Poland), Masur spent much of his life living under communist East Germany. After studying piano, conducting and composition, he took up his first major role as conductor of the Dresden Philharmonic in 1955. While head of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, he joined five other prominent citizens in helping avoid a possible bloodbath at a crucial anti-government protest on the square outside his concert hall in October 1989. The success of that unprecedented peaceful mass protest led to the fall of the Berlin Wall the following month and German reunification the next year.