In Saturday’s (5/16) San Francisco Chronicle, Joshua Kosman writes, “Herbert Blomstedt has withdrawn from the San Francisco Symphony’s remaining weekend performances on the advice of his doctors after struggling to get through the first of three performances featuring Mahler’s Ninth Symphony. The remaining performances, on Saturday and Sunday, May 16-17, at Davies Symphony Hall, will be led by conductor David Robertson … At 98, the Symphony’s conductor laureate has spent decades pursuing an astonishingly vital guest conducting career; just last week, he conducted the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in the same piece without incident. But on Friday, May 15, his return to the Symphony podium was dogged with concerns about his health. He arrived feeling fatigued, according to a Symphony spokesperson, and was admitted to a hospital as a precautionary move while Robertson took over rehearsals. Blomstedt was sufficiently recovered to lead the final dress rehearsal Friday morning. But he was clearly in a weakened state as he took the stage that night…. During the third of the symphony’s four movements, the performance stopped as stage attendants brought out an armchair and transferred him to the more supportive seating arrangement. Blomstedt is scheduled to return to Davies in January 2027, six months before his 100th birthday.”
