Claus Peter Flor

Among the generation of conductors born after the end of WWII, Claus Peter Flor has enjoyed an especially varied career, conducting many of the world's foremost orchestras, leading important opera productions, serving several major orchestras in an ongoing capacity, and frequently recording. As principal guest conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, he was afforded both a steady relationship with a leading orchestra and the time to pursue the numerous other projects offered him. After violin studies in Weimar and Leipzig, Flor trained in conducting first with Rolf Reuter, then with Rafael Kubelik and Kurt Sanderling. Following a variety of guest assignments, Flor was appointed chief director of the Suhl Philharmonic and, not long thereafter, general music director of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra. In 1988, he appeared for the first time with the Berlin Philharmonic, receiving a subsequent invitation to return. From 1991 to 1994, Flor was engaged as principal guest conductor of London's Philharmonia Orchestra while simultaneously holding the position of artistic advisor with the Tonhalle-Orchestre Zürich. The latter post continued until 1996. Following that, Flor was appointed principal guest conductor of the Dallas Symphony (1999-2008). His next position was as music director for the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, with which he began recording for the BIS label. In addition to his appointments, Flor has regularly appeared before such European orchestras as Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Rotterdam Philharmonic, the Orchestre de Paris, and the Vienna Symphony while also conducting such American ensembles as the Los Angeles Philharmonic (United States debut), the Boston Symphony, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, the Houston Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony, and the Pittsburgh Symphony. Opera engagements have taken him to Berlin (both the Staatsoper and the Deutsche Oper), Brussels, Cologne, Dresden, Hamburg, Munich, and Paris. Dallas Opera chose him to conduct a 2003 production of La bohème. Between 2007 and 2013, Flor also had an ongoing commitment to conduct Mozart, Puccini, and Wagner with the Theatre du Capitole Toulouse. Most of Flor's recordings have been made for RCA/BMG Classics. Among the most noteworthy are his Martinu symphonies, Shostakovich's Symphony No. 10, and miscellaneous works by Weber, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Haydn, and Zemlinsky. A curiosity, Bruch's oratorio Moses was released by Orfeo to positive reviews.