Walter Herbert

Who was Walter Herbert?

Walter Herbert was an American conductor and impresario of German birth, as well as a world champion at contract bridge.

He was born Walter Seligmann in Frankfurt, and studied composition under Arnold Schönberg in Vienna. He gained experience as a conductor in Germany and Switzerland, as well as chief conductor at the Vienna Volksoper. His operatic debut was with Carmen, at the Stadttheater Bern, in 1925. Just before the 1938 Anschluss of Germany and Austria, Herbert visited Japan to introduce modern western music. From there he migrated to the United States, where he became an American citizen in 1944.

Herbert was director of Opera in English, and in 1943 was appointed the first general director of the New Orleans Opera Association, where he held the post until 1954. He proceeded to found the Houston Grand Opera in 1955, where he remained as both general director and conductor until 1972, and was music director of Opera/South in Jackson, Mississippi. He founded the San Diego Opera in 1965, and became its general director and conductor from 1969 until his death.