Bernhard Klee (19 April 1936 – 10 October 2025) was a German conductor and pianist. His leadership posts included terms as Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) at the Theater Lübeck from 1966 to 1973, chief conductor of the Radiophilharmonie Hannover in Hanover from 1976 to 1979, GMD in Düsseldorf from 1977 to 1987, chief conductor of the NDR Radiophilharmonie from 1991 to 1995 and of the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz from 1992 to 1997, Beginning in the 1970s, he was closely associated with the BBC as a regular guest conductor of several London orchestras. He performed in Munich, Vienna, at the Salzburg Festival and in the United States, among others, and recorded extensively. As a pianist, he often accompanied his first wife, soprano Edith Mathis, in Lieder repertoire.
Klee was regarded as a renowned interpreter of Mozart, discovering rarely played works such as Zaide and recognized in awards for recordings of his music such as Deutscher Schallplattenpreis and Wiener Flötenuhr. He made significant contributions to the performance of contemporary music, conducting world premieres of works by Hans-Jürgen von Bose, Wolfgang Fortner, Sofia Gubaidulina, Hans Werner Henze, Volker David Kirchner, Detlev Müller-Siemens, Dieter Schnebel and Manfred Trojahn.
Life and career Bernhard Klee was born in Schleiz, Thuringia, on 19 April 1936 and grew up in Jena. Klee learned to play the piano, violin, and double bass. He was a member of the Leipzig Thomanerchor from 1948 to 1955, under Günther Ramin, eventually serving as prefect. At the age of ten, he heard his first Mozart opera (Le nozze di Figaro), which would shape him profoundly.Robert Croan: Conductor Klee. From Choir to Podium. In: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 24 April 1997. After completing his Abitur in 1955 at the Thomasschule zu Leipzig, he studied at the State Academy of Music in Cologne, where his teachers included Günter Wand for conducting, Else Schmitz-Gohr for piano, and Maurits Frank for chamber music. He later emphasized that Fritz Schieri especially influenced his conducting technique. Wand was a role model for him as a conductor focused on the composition.
Early career In 1957, Klee began his career as a répétiteur at the Cologne Opera, where Otto Ackermann was Generalmusikdirektor (GMD). In 1958, he moved to the Stadttheater Bern. When Wolfgang Sawallisch was GMD in Cologne, he appointed Klee as his assistant. Klee made his conducting debut in 1960 with Mozart's Die Zauberflöte; the soloists at the time included Elisabeth Grümmer, Edith Mathis, Fritz Wunderlich, and Franz Crass. He then held his first positions as Kapellmeister at the Landestheater Salzburg (1962/63), Theater Oberhausen (1963–1965), and Staatsoper Hannover (1965/66).
Lübeck From 1966 to 1973, he held his first leading position as GMD at the Theater Lübeck, succeeding Gerd Albrecht. According to Klaus Matthias, who described him as "a gifted Mozart conductor," Klee devoted himself to the music of Haydn and Mozart, as well as Beethoven and Brahms. He also continued the biennial Bruckner tradition, revisited the symphonies of Mahler and programmed a Sibelius cycle. Matthias noted that Klee "particularly honored Lübeck's historically rooted orientation toward Scandinavia." Klee also performed works by other Romantic composers and representatives of classical modernism, such as Igor Stravinsky, Béla Bartók, and Dmitri Shostakovich. He also played the previously neglected Baroque and pre-Classical composers, which Matthias attributed to Klee's time with the Thomanerchor. Klee's wife, the renowned soprano Edith Mathis, frequently performed in concerts. From 1967, Klee introduced pre-concert talks and later program notes for modern works by Karl Amadeus Hartmann and Wolfgang Fortner. His concert series Musik der Zeit (Music of the time) showcased "avant-garde attempts that were rejected by the audience and not sustained." He also advocated for children's concerts. In 1973, he stepped down from his duties in Lübeck "with courageous intellectual independence ahead of schedule".Klaus Matthias: Music History of Lübeck in the 20th Century. Church Music and Concert Life. In: Arnfried Edler, Heinrich W. Schwab (eds.): Studies on the Music History of the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (= Kieler Schriften zur Musikwissenschaft, Volume 31). Bärenreiter, Kassel et al. 1989, , pp. 177 ff., here: pp. 200f.
Guest conducting and international breakthrough In 1968 Klee made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra,Peter Muck: One Hundred Years of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Volume 3: The Members of the Orchestra, the Programs, the Concert Tours, Premieres and First Performances. Schneider, Tutzing 1982, , p. 458. with which he would repeatedly perform during the tenures of Karajan and Abbado. After his debut in 1979 with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra, he became a regular guest at its symphony concerts in the Berliner Philharmonie and the Haus des Rundfunks during the 1980s.Artist: Klee, Bernhard. dso-berlin.de; accessed 21 April 2020. Peter Ruzicka: 40 Years of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. 1946–1986. RSO, Berlin 1986.
A guest performance by the Hamburg State Opera took him to the Edinburgh Festival in Scotland in 1969 with Wagner's The Flying Dutchman. In 1971/72, he was a guest conductor with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London,Friedrich Herzfeld (ed.): Das neue Ullstein-Lexikon der Musik. Mit 5000 Stichwörtern, 600 Notenbeispielen. Revised and updated anniversary edition, Ullstein, Frankfurt am Main et al. 1993, . where he collaborated with Pierre Boulez. At the Proms in London's Royal Albert Hall during the 1970s, he conducted not only the BBC Symphony Orchestra (1972) but also the London Symphony Orchestra (LSO / 1973, 1975). In an interview, he stated that of the three London orchestras he regularly worked with, he felt particularly connected to the LSO. He made his debut at the Royal Opera House in London in 1972 with Mozart's Così fan tutte.Così fan tutte - 21 December 1972 Evening. rohcollections.org.uk; accessed 19 April 2020.
In 1973, he first appeared at the Salzburg Festival,Norbert Tschulik: Chronicle of the Salzburg Festival 1973. In: Österreichische Musikzeitschrift 28 (1973) 9, pp. 409f. where he performed Mozart symphonies, arias and a piano concerto with the Mozarteum Orchestra, bassist Robert Kerns and pianist (piano).2nd Mozart Matinee – Matinee Ensemble of the Mozarteum Orchestra, Bernhard Klee. salzburgerfestspiele.at 1973; accessed 14 October 2025. Further appearances there included three performances of Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's production of Le nozze di Figaro 1979 with the Vienna Philharmonic.Wolfgang A. Mozart Le nozze di Figaro, archive.salzburgerfestspiele.at; accessed 19 April 2020. In 1975, he first conducted at the Wiener Musikverein, where he subsequently conducted the Vienna Symphony and the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra.Search in the Concert Archive. musikverein.at; accessed 25 April 2020.
Klee first conducted in Munich in the 1973/74 season, works by Hartmann and Hans Werner Henze in a musica viva concert. praised him in the Süddeutsche Zeitung for his precise conducting.Karl Heinz Ruppel: Musica viva Commemorates Its Founder: Bernhard Klee Conducts Hartmann and Henze. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung, No. 279, 3 December 1973, p. 14. Further performances with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra followed, (ed.): 1949–1999. 50 Years of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. Commissioned by Bavarian Radio, Bärenreiter, Kassel et al. 1999, , pp. 143 ff. including at the Mozart Festival Würzburg.Wilhelm Hilpert: The Winner Must Play Without a Fee. Violin Competition for Young Talent at the 44th Würzburg Mozart Festival. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung, No. 133, 13 June 1975, p. 17. Joachim Kaiser was impressed by Klee's performance at a concert at the Herkulessaal in 1976, which "established him as a conductor of distinction."Joachim Kaiser: Klee – and the Impressionists. 9th Radio Symphony Orchestra Concert in Munich's Herkulessaal. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung, No. 61, 13/14 March 1976, p. 12. During the interim period between Rudolf Kempe and Sergiu Celibidache, Klee was one of the guest conductors with the Munich Philharmonic.Gabriele E. Meyer: Conductors/Premieres and First Performances of the Munich Philharmonic 1893–1973. In: Regina Schmoll gen. Eisenwerth (ed.): The Munich Philharmonic. From Its Founding to the Present. Wolf, Munich 1985, , pp. 431–446, here: p. 432. At his first Munich Opera Festival in 1979, he conducted the premiere of Mozart's La finta giardiniera at the Cuvilliés Theatre, directed by .Erik Werba: Premieres at the Munich Opera Festival. In: Österreichische Musikzeitschrift 34 (1979) 9, pp. 444f.
When Daniel Barenboim withdrew from his commitment to the New York Philharmonic in the 1973/74 season due to an orchestra strike,John Canarina: The New York Philharmonic: From Bernstein to Maazel. Amadeus Press, New York 2010, , p. 91. Klee stepped in, making his debut in the United States at Avery Fisher Hall. Harold C. Schonberg from the New York Times described his performance of works by Weber, Hartmann, and Mahler as solid but lacking inspiration.Harold C. Schonberg: Music: Bernhard Klee Makes Debut at Philharmonic. In: The New York Times. Volume 20, April 1974, p. 16. Subsequently, Klee was invited to conduct other major U.S. orchestras, including the Big Five. He was a frequent guest with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at Heinz Hall in the 1990s. In 1992, he made his debut with the Dutch Concertgebouw Orchestra, performing works by Mozart, Schumann, and Dvořák.Conductor: Klee, Bernhard, archief.concertgebouworkest.nl; accessed 22 April 2020. For Wolf-Eberhard von Lewinski (1976), Klee was "an equally musical and intelligent conductor, a precise craftsman, and a sovereign interpreter."
Hannover, Düsseldorf, Ludwigshafen