Klee, Bernhard (1936– )

German conductor. He studied at the Cologne Conservatory and was assistant to Wolfgang Sawalisch at the opera house there. He made his debut with Die Zauberflöte in 1960, working in opera houses in Salzburg, Oberhausen and Hanover, before becoming music director at Lübeck in 1966, a post he held for seven years. He made his UK debut in Edinburgh in 1969 with Der Fliegende Holländer with the Hamburg Opera; his Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, debut in 1972 with Così fan tutte; and his US debut in 1974, with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He worked subsequently as guest conductor in San Francisco, Detroit, Chicago and Washington, led Le nozze di Figaro at Salzburg in 1976, and was chief conductor of the Hanover Radio Symphony Orchestra 1976–79, and again from 1991. Other posts include that of music director of the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra 1977–87 and chief guest conductor with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra 1985–89, with which he performed Bruckner's Ninth Symphony at the 1991 London Proms.