Nelsson, Woldemar (1938– )

Russian conductor. He studied at the Novosibirsk Conservatory and was assistant to Kondrashin with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra from 1971. He emigrated to West Germany in 1977 and led the first performance of Henze's ballet Orpheus in Stuttgart in 1979. He has appeared at the Bayreuth Festival 1980–85, conducting Lohengrin and Der fliegende Holländer; he was also music director at Kassel 1980–87. He has directed other performances of Orpheus at Washington DC and the Metropolitan Opera House, New York. He conducted the first performance of Penderecki's Die schwarze Maske at Salzburg in 1986 and Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at Copenhagen, in 1991.