Kurt Masur marked with Google Doodle – why is the German conductor being commemorated on his 91st birthday?
The orchestral supremo became world-renowned for his belief in the power of music to 'bring humanity closer together'
KURT Masur was a German conductor and humanitarian who became world-renowned for his belief in the power of music to "bring humanity closer together".
Hailed as "one of the last old-style maestros", he is being honoured with a commemorative Google Doodle on what would have been his 91st birthday.
Who was Kurt Masur?
Kurst Masur was born on July 18, 1927, in Brieg, a town now known as Brzeg in modern day Poland.
He was called up as a schoolboy to join the "Volkssturm" German militia in late 1944 as World War Two entered its final stages.
Aged 17, Masur was captured by Allied forces after just 27 of the 150 soldiers in his unit survived military action.
Following the war, he studied piano, composition and conducting in Leipzig, but left before completing his studies after being offered a job at the age of 21.
Masur conducted the Dresden Philharmoic Orchestra – from 1955 to 1958 and 1967 to 1972 – and took the prestigious role of kapellmeister of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig in 1970.
He stayed in the position until 1996, performing Beehoven's ninth symphony at the German reunification celebrations in 1990.
From 1991 to 2002 he was the music director of the New York Philharmonic, and the principal conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra from 2000 to 2007.
In New York, he directed Brahms' Deutsches Requiem following the September 11 terrorist attacks in 2001.
As well as receiving numerous musical honours, he was named Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour by the French government, became a New York City Cultural Ambassador and was given the Commander Cross of Merit by the Polish Republic.
Masur was married three times, and had a total of five children including son Ken-David, a classical singer and conductor.
In 2015 he passed away at the age of 88 in Greenwich, Connecticut, after suffering complications of Parkinson's disease.
LATEST GOOGLE DOODLES
What is a Google Doodle?
In 1998, the search engine founders Larry and Sergey drew a stick figure behind the second 'o' of Google as a message to that they were out of office at the Burning Man festival and with that, Google Doodles were born.
The company decided that they should decorate the logo to mark cultural moments and it soon became clear that users really enjoyed the change to the Google homepage.
In that same year, a turkey was added to Thanksgiving and two pumpkins appeared as the 'o's for Halloween the following year.
Now, there is a full team of doodlers, illustrators, graphic designers, animators and classically trained artists who help create what you see on those days.
Among the Doodles published in past months were designs commemorating German scientist Robert Koch, Jan Ingenhousz (who discovered photosynthesis) and the 50th anniversary of kids coding languages being introduced.
And the search giant celebrated the 2017 Autumn Equinox , which marked the official ending of summer and the coming of autumn.