Jonathan Sternberg, an American conductor and teacher, died in Philadelphia on May 8, 2018. He was 98. Born July 27, 1919 on the Lower Eastside of Manhattan the studied at the Institute of Musical Art (Juilliard School) in New York. After World War II he lived in Vienna, making his conducting debut there with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra in 1947. In addition to multiple performances and recordings with the leading orchestras in Vienna, he toured extensively as a guest conductor in Europe, North America, and Asia. Later, Sternberg held longer term engagements with the Halifax Symphony Orchestra (1957-1958), the Royal Flemish Opera in Antwerp (1963-1966), the Harkness Ballet of New York (1966-1968), and the Atlanta Opera Company (1968-1969).
In Europe he conducted also the Mozarteum Orchestra of Salzburg, the London Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, Orchestre Lamoureux in Paris, and the orchestras of Warsaw, Prague, Berlin, Munich, Stuttgart, Basel, Brussels, and Monte-Carlo. He collaborated with artists like Isaac Stern, Yehudi Menuhin, Henryk Szeryng, Paul Badura-Skoda, Alfred Brendel, Annie Fischer…
Later in his career, Mr. Sternberg divided his time between conducting and teaching. He joined the faculty at Temple University in Philadelphia, where he taught conducting and led the University orchestra (1971-1989).
