Flor, Claus Peter
Flor, Claus Peter
Flor, Claus Peter, German conductor; b. Leipzig, March 16, 1953. He entered the Zwickau Cons, at 10 to study violin and clarinet, and then continued his training at the Weimar Hochschule fur Musik. He completed his study of the violin at the Leipzig Hochschule fur Musik, and also received training in conducting with Reuter and Masur. Flor later continued his conducting studies with Kubelik and Kurt Sanderling. In 1979 he won the Mendelssohn-Stipendium of the Ministry of Culture and captured 1st prize in the Fitelberg Competition in Katowice, and subsequently took prizes in the Kubelik Competition in Lucerne (1982) and in the Malko Competition in Copenhagen (1983). From 1981 to 1984 he was chief conductor of the Suhler Phil. In 1984–85 he was chief conductor of the (East) Berlin Sym. Orch., and then was made its Generalmusikdirektor in 1985. That same year, he made his U.S. debut at the Hollywood Bowl. In 1988 he took the Berlin Sym. Orch. on a world tour. In 1991 he left his Berlin post to serve as principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia Orch. in London and as principal guest conductor and artistic advisor of the Tonhalle Orch. in Zurich. He concluded his London tenure in 1994 and his Zurich tenure in 1995. As a guest conductor, he has appeared with many of the world’s major orchs. He has also appeared as an opera conductor.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire