Pacific Union College Confers Honorary Doctorate on Herbert Blomstedt

by Jonathan Watts

Pacific Union College is conferring an honorary doctor of music degree on Herbert Blomstedt, music director laureate of the San Francisco Symphony, at 7 p.m. Saturday, March 15, in the college's Paulin Hall. Blomstedt will also be inducted into the prestigious Pi Kappa Lambda music honors society during the event. A reception will follow in the Fireside Room.

"We would like to honor Herbert Blomstedt for his musical contributions and his Christian life," said Malcolm Maxwell, president of Pacific Union College. "He is regarded as one of the finest musicians in the world. We think of him as a very fine Seventh-day Adventist Christian as well, someone who is proud of his Christianity." Blomstedt was music director of the San Francisco Symphony from 1985 to 1995. He is now music director of the NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg, Germany, and is an active recording artist and guest conductor with other leading orchestras around the world. Blomstedt has been invited each year to return as guest conductor of the San Francisco Symphony, which he will conduct on March 20 and 22.

Blomstedt has received many awards and honors, including two Grammy Awards (1996, 1993), the Grand Prix du Disque (1992), the Litteris et Artibus Gold Medal (1989), and two honorary doctorates, from Andrews University in Michigan and Southwestern Adventist College in Texas. He is Knight Royal order of Dannebrogen (Denmark) and Knight Royal Order of the North Star (Sweden).