Klaus Tennstedt (1926-98) studied violin at the Leipzig Hochschule für Musik. In 1948 he was appointed leader of the orchestra of the Halle Stadttheater, but a growth between two fingers of his left hand forced him to turn to the piano and conducting; he made his conducting debut in Halle in 1952. A concert in Sweden gave him the chance to defect in 1971. The turning point in Tennstedt's career came in 1974. After hearing him conduct Bruckner's Seventh Symphony, Walter Homburger invited him to the Toronto Symphony Orchestra for concerts that earned stunning reviews; shortly thereafter he appeared with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Bruckner's Eighth Symphony that attracted international attention. He accepted invitations from Chicago, New York, Cleveland, Philadelphia and elsewhere, making his British debut with the London Symphony Orchestra in 1976 which led to equal acclaim in Europe. He was the first German to conduct the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra (1978) and became the principal conductor of the NDR Symphony Orchestra (1979-81), and principal guest conductor at the Minnesota Orchestra (1979-83) and the London Philharmonic Orchestra (1980-83). He was the LPO's music director from 1983 to 1987, after which he was made the orchestra's conductor laureate, appearing occasionally until his retirement through ill health in 1994.