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Saturday, December 19, 2015

Kurt Masur Dies at 88; Conductor Transformed New York Philharmonic

Kurt Masur (18 July 1927 – 19 December 2015)
  NYTimes obit Kurt Masur, the music director emeritus of the New York Philharmonic, who was credited with transforming the orchestra from a sullen, lackluster ensemble into one of luminous renown, died on Saturday December 19, 2015, in Greenwich, Conn. He was 88. Masur was born in Brieg, Lower Silesia, Germany (now Brzeg in Poland) and studied piano, composition and conducting in Leipzig, Saxony. Masur was married three times. His first marriage ended in divorce. He and his second wife, Irmgard, had a daughter, Carolin. Irmgard Masur died in 1972 in a car accident in which Masur was severely injured. His marriage to his third wife, the former Tomoko Sakurai, produced a son, Ken-David, a classical singer and conductor WIKIPEDIA VIDEO: