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former East Germany and has been recognized as
a central figure in the peaceful Wende era that ushered in German
unification 20 years ago.
From 1970 until 1996, Maestro Masur served
as Gewandhaus Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra in
southeastern Germany.
He was also music director of the New York
Philharmonic from 1991-2002, after which he was named music
director emeritus, becoming the first New York Philharmonic music
director to receive that title.
Masur is moreover a frequent guest conductor with the world's
leading orchestras. His US debut came in 1974, when he led the
Cleveland Orchestra and also took the Gewandhaus Orchestra on its
first American tour.
Since 1992, Masur has held the lifetime
title of honorary guest conductor of the Israel Philharmonic
Orchestra. He has also served as principal conductor of the London
Philharmonic Orchestra and is music director of the Orchestre
National de France.
Masur has received many distinguished awards
in his lifetime, including top national awards from the
governments of France, Poland and Germany.
He has been a professor at the Leipzig
Academy of Music since 1975 and holds honorary degrees from a slew
of academic institutions on both sides of the Atlantic, including
the Breslau Academy of Music; the Cleveland Institute of Music;
Colgate University; The Juilliard School; Leipzig University; the
University of Michigan; and Yale University. In 1998, he
celebrated 50 years as a professional conductor.
Former recipients of the Leo Baeck Medal include Axel Springer,
founder of the Hamburg-based Axel Springer publishing house; Edgar
Bronfman, the former president of the World Jewish Council;
Johannes Rau, a former president of the Federal Republic of
Germany; Wolfgang Ischinger, a former ambassador of Germany to the
United States; and, in 2009, former German Foreign Minister
Joschka Fischer.
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