Boston Symphony Orchestra - Since 1949

Since 1949

In 1949, Koussevitzky was succeeded by the Alsatian conductor Charles Munch. As a violinist he had served as concertmaster for Hermann Abendroth in the Gürzenich Orchestra in Cologne and for Wilhelm Furtwängler in Leipzig's Gewandhaus Orchestra, but had built his conducting career in Paris. During World War II he had refused to cooperate with the Nazi occupation in Paris, and was thus awarded the Légion d'honneur in 1945. He had made his conducting debut in Boston in 1946. He led the orchestra on its first overseas tour, and also produced their first stereo recording in February 1954 for RCA Victor.

Munch was succeeded in 1962 by Erich Leinsdorf, who served as music director for seven years until 1969. William Steinberg was then music director from 1969 to 1973. In 1973, Seiji Ozawa took over the orchestra and remained the Music Director until 2002, the longest tenure of any Boston Symphony conductor.

On 19 August 1990, the Boston Symphony Orchestra had the distinction of being the final orchestra to be conducted by the legendary conductor Leonard Bernstein. He would announce his retirement as a conductor on 9 October that year due to declining health, and died five days later.

In 2004, James Levine became the first American-born music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Levine has received critical praise for revitalizing the quality and repertoire since the beginning of his tenure, including championing contemporary composers. Since becoming music director, the Boston Symphony has performed 18 world premieres, 12 of them conducted by Levine. To be able to fund the more challenging and expensive of Levine's musical projects with the orchestra, the orchestra has established an "Artistic Initiative Fund" of about US$40 million. This is in addition to the current endowment of the orchestra, which is the largest of any American orchestra at about US$300 million. On March 2, 2011, Levine announced that he would resign as music director as of September 1, 2011 due to ill health. The orchestra is now in its second season without an official musical director.