Ernest Bour

Born 1913, died 2001; Ernest Bour was a French conductor and an important advocate of contemporary music. He studied piano, organ and music theory in Strasbourg and conducting with Fritz Münch and Hermann Scherchen. After posts in Mulhouse and Strasbourg he succeeded Hans Rosbaud in 1964 as chief conductor of the Südwestfunk Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and shaped that position until 1979. Through his commitment to the music of his time and to the Donaueschinger Musiktage in particular, he became one of the formative conducting personalities of the post-war years.