Music
Karl Krueger
1894–1979 · conductor
Kansas-born conductor who revived the Detroit Symphony during the Second World War and led it from 1943 to 1949, when his departure caused it to disband again.
- Born
Atchison, Kansas- Died
Elgin, Illinois
aged 85- Detroit years
- 1943–1949
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Krueger had studied in Vienna and Heidelberg, served as an assistant conductor at the Vienna State Opera and led the Seattle Symphony and the Kansas City Philharmonic before he came to Detroit. The DSO had disbanded in 1942, soon after the United States entered the war, and he took charge of the reorganized orchestra in 1943–1944. In 1946 it moved into the downtown Wilson Theatre, renamed Music Hall for the purpose. Among the young talents of those years was Detroit pianist Ruth Laredo, who at eleven played her first concerto movements with the orchestra under his baton. His tenure ended badly: when he quit in 1949, the orchestra disbanded once more and stayed silent until 1951. After Detroit he founded the American Arts Orchestra, a broadcast and recording ensemble, and wrote a history of conducting, The Way of the Conductor.
Highlights
- Music director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, 1943–1949
- Moved the DSO into Music Hall (the former Wilson Theatre) in 1946
- Accompanied eleven-year-old Ruth Laredo in her DSO debut
- His 1949 resignation led to the orchestra's two-year shutdown
02 / Their Detroit places
Their Detroit places 1
Where they lived, worked, performed and liked to hang out. Closed and demolished places stay here too, because they are part of the city's history.
Performed here · 1946–1949
orsa Music Hall (Music Hall Center for the Performing Arts)
The 1928 theater, built as the Wilson Theatre, that became the DSO's home under Krueger and was renamed Music Hall; it is still a working theater.