Klas, Eri (1939– )

Estonian conductor. He studied at the Tallinn Conservatory and conducted West Side Story at the Tallinn Opera in 1964. He conducted at the Bolshoi from 1972 and was director of the Tallinn Opera from 1975, and music director of the Royal Opera, Stockholm 1985–89. In 1988 he conducted Don Giovanni at Stockholm and in 1989 the first performance of Schnittke's ballet Peer Gynt, in Hamburg. He was made chief conductor of the Aarhus Symphony Orchestra in 1990, since when he has also been guest conductor with the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Dallas, Detroit, and Baltimore Symphony Orchestras.