Kurt Masur's tenure with the New York Philharmonic in the 1990s superficially seemed a throwback to the days when American orchestras always looked to the European continent when naming their conductors. In fact, the appointment was both unusual and forward-thinking. Born in Brieg, Silesia (in modern-day Poland) in 1927, Masur was one of the most respected conductors of his generation and was well known for his human rights activities.

Masur studied cello and piano while at the Breslau Music School from 1942 to 1944. After the war he found himself in the Soviet-occupied zone of Germany, which became the German Democratic Republic (DDR) or East Germany. His education then continued at the Leipzig Hochschule für Musik, where he studied piano, composition, and conducting (1946-1948). His professional career began as a coach and assistant conductor in the Halle Landestheater. He then became Kapellmeister of the Erfurt City Theater (1951-1953). Next, he was his appointed as Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Opera Theater. (1953-1955).

His first orchestral position came with the Dresden Philharmonic (1955-1958). He then returned to opera, becoming Generalmusikdirektor of the Mecklenburg State Theater in Schwerin (1958-1960). One of his most important appointments came in 1960, when he took the post as Senior Director of Music at the Berlin Komische Oper, where he worked with the famous director and producer Walter Felsenstein. He returned to the Dresden Philharmonic as its music director (1967-1972). In 1970 he became Gewandhauskapellmeister of Leipzig, a position of high prestige ever since the Gewandhaus Orchestra had been led by Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, and indeed Felix Mendelssohn. He remained at the Gewandhaus through 1996, during one of the most important stretches in the orchestra's history. Together they made numerous recordings for the East German state recording company, many of which became generally available in the West only during the 1990s. He also took the orchestra on significant foreign tours, and in 1975 he became a professor at the Leipzig Academy.

Masur was a frequent guest conductor with the world's leading orchestras. His U.S. debut came in 1974, when he led the Cleveland Orchestra and also took the Gewandhaus Orchestra on its first American tour. His New York Philharmonic debut took place in 1981.

Masur became outspoken in his opposition to DDR policies, and in 1989 he played a central role in the growing demonstrations against Communist rule. As a result he was awarded several of Germany's highest civilian honors, and his profile in the West was raised still further.

In 1991 Masur was appointed music director of the New York Philharmonic. Although the orchestra was in fine form when he took it, he was been credited with sharpening its precision, creating a more incisive sound. Masur and the Philharmonic recorded extensively on the Teldec label. Under his tenure, the orchestra resumed its historic series of live national radio broadcasts, becoming the only orchestra in the United States with such a program in place. In 1999, the orchestra's "Messages for the Millennium" project commissioned works by Thomas Ades, John Corigliano, Hans Werner Henze, Giya Kancheli, and Kaija Saariaho, and in June of the following year, Masur and the Philharmonic completed their fifth European tour.

In 1996 he stepped down from his position with the Gewandhaus, which elected to give him the title of Conductor Laureate -- the first time it had bestowed that honor. Since 1992, he held the lifetime title of Honorary Guest Conductor of the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. In September 2000, Masur assumed the position of Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra, which he held until 2007. At the end of his contract with the New York Philharmonic in 2002, Masur became music director of the Orchestre National de France, a position he held until 2008. He remained active as a guest conductor for a few more years, although his age and health placed some limitations on his engagements.

The world-renowned New York Philharmonic (officially the Philharmonic-Symphony Society of New York) is America's oldest symphony orchestra, a prime example of high standards of performance to musicians and audiences everywhere.

Beginning in the 1820s, there were several attempts to found an orchestra in the city, the more successful of which were the Philharmonic Symphony Society (established in 1842) and the New York Symphony (established in 1878). The Philharmonic had a reputation for conservatism and high standards, hiring primarily European conductors, such as Gustav Mahler. The Symphony seemed more ambitious and interested in new music. It received patronage from Andrew Carnegie, enabling the building of Carnegie Hall (1891), with an inaugural concert led by Walter Damrosch and Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky. The Philharmonic Society finally merged with the Symphony in 1928, during the tenure of Arturo Toscanini, who helped it establish its world-class reputation. Many great conductors would follow, among them: Leonard Bernstein (1958-1969, when he was named conductor laureate), Kurt Masur (1991-2002, when he was named music director emeritus), Alan Gilbert (2009-2017), and as of the 2018-2019 season, Jaap van Zweden. Under Bernstein, the orchestra's reputation blossomed in new ways. He brought a youthful excitement to the music, engaging new audience members, particularly through television appearances. The advent of stereo recording allowed the Philharmonic to re-record much of the standard canon. It also got a new performance venue: Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center.

Many of the Philharmonic's directors have had to deal with threats to its standing among the world's great orchestras: competition on stages and on records from other, strong American orchestras; internal and external economic difficulties; and balancing the traditional with new music in a way that satisfies its core audience. However, commissioning and introducing new works is a long-held tradition. Memorable premieres include Dvorák's New World Symphony; Gershwin's Concerto in F; the Pulitzer Prize-winning On the Transmigration of Souls by John Adams; Esa-Pekka Salonen's Piano Concerto; and The Jungle, Wynton Marsalis' fourth symphony. The Philharmonic commissioned a new work by Julia Wolfe, Fire in My Mouth, giving its premiere in 2019 and receiving a Grammy nomination for its recording. In 2020, the Philharmonic inaugurated Project 19 to commission new music from 19 women composers, named such to mark the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment. Among the first of these commissions was Tania León's Stride, which won the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2021.

The orchestra has performed in more than 430 cities in 63 countries, which includes its first tour after merging when Toscanini took it to Europe in 1930 and a trip to the U.S.S.R. in 1959. In 2008, Lorin Maazel led it in a historic concert in Pyongyang, North Korea, the first significant cultural visit to the country by an American organization since the 1950s. The Philharmonic hosts several free concerts each year, operates outreach programs in the city, and partners with select music schools in the U.S. and China.

The Philharmonic's recording history dates back to 1917, counting over 2,000 releases, many of them award winners, with hundreds of them available at any given time. As many other orchestras have done, it has created its own label, releasing live concert recordings physically, and was the first to do so digitally as well, also offering podcasts and other new media. Its Leon Levy Digital Archives contain every program printed since 1842, plus scores marked by musicians and conductors. After a fundraising campaign to rehabilitate the Avery Fisher Hall in 2014, the venue was renamed the David Geffen Hall in 2015. Following significant renovations, it reopened for the 2022-2023 season. ~ Patsy Morita