Claus Peter Flor Conductor

"Flor makes music a physical experience: One feels its sinews tensing and relaxing, sometimes pressing against obstacles that yield only with immense effort. We sometimes beg for the downbeat that will resolve a dissonance"

Dallas Morning News - Scott Cantrell, April 2010

(Dallas Symphony Orchestra - Meyserson Symphony Centre, Dallas)

Respected by musicians the world over as a hugely gifted conductor and, for his instinctive musicianship, Claus Peter Flor is Music Director of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.

Mr Flor continues to work internationally at a high level and works regularly with Netherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Dallas Symphony, Houston Symphony, Singapore Symphony, Het Residentie Orchestra, Orquesta de Valencia, RTVI Lugano, China Philharmonic, Orchestre Philharmonique du Strasbourg, Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse, Sao Paolo Symphony Orchestra and KBS Symphony amongst others.

In the next two seasons he returns to the Russian National Orchestra, Warsaw Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Tokyo Symphony, Osaka Philharmonic and Bilbao Symphony.

As an opera conductor, Mr Flor had a big success last season with the new production of Siegfried directed by David McVicar. Next season he returns to Toulouse to conduct the revival of The Magic Flute, which he premiered in 2007.

Recent operatic collaborations include productions at the Staatsoper Berlin, Deutsche Oper Berlin and in Munich, Dresden, Hamburg, and Cologne. He has conducted Le nozze di Figaro and Die Meistersinger at La Monnaie in Brussels, taking the latter on tour to Tokyo in 2002, Die Zauberflöte for Houston Grand Opera, Euryanthe for Netherlands Opera with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and La bohème for Dallas Opera. He has collaborated with Toulouse Opera on a cycle of Mozart operas, which concluded with Die Zauberflöte in June 2007.

Maestro Flor has a large discography, including an acclaimed series of Mendelssohn recordings with the Bamberg Symphony, which have recently been re-issued by Sony/BMG. His most recent recording of Suk: Asrael Symphony with his own orchestra, The Malaysian Philharmonic for BIS label, was released earlier this year.

Born in Leipzig in 1953, Mr Flor learnt the violin in Weimar and Leipzig, and subsequently studied conducting with Rolf Reuter and later on with Rafael Kubelik and Kurt Sanderling. At the age of 31 he became General Music Director of the Berlin Symphony and also began regular associations at this time with the other major East German orchestras: the Leipzig Gewandhaus and Dresden Staatskapelle. In 1988 he made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic, where he has since returned twice.

Prior to his position as Music Director of The Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra, Mr Flor held the position of Principal Guest Conductor of the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi (2003-8) at the personal invitation of their Music Director Riccardo Chailly; with a remit to develop the orchestra’s work in the central European repertoire. From 1999-2008 he was also Principal Guest Conductor of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he has served as Principal Guest Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra (1991-4) and Artistic Advisor to the Zürich Tonhalle Orchestra (1991-96).

2009/10 biography as at July 2009 – please destroy any previously dated material

Date Last Edited: 5th August 2010