The revered German-born conductor has passed away aged 88.

One of the greatest maestros of his generation, Kurt Masur, died on Saturday aged 88 at his home in Greenwich, Connecticut from complications of Parkinson’s disease. The German-born conductor was music director of the New York Philharmonic from 1991 until 2002, and made the orchestra one of the world’s greatest during his tenure.

Born in 1927, Masur grew up in the then German province of Lower Silesia, now in modern day Poland. He studied composition, the piano and conducting in Leipzig, Saxony, where he lived and worked until 1990.

In addition to his astonishing musical accomplishments, he is also credited with helping prevent violence at the end of the Communist occupation of East Germany. As the Chief Conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra for almost 30 years during the Communist era, Masur used his high public profile in 1989 to appeal for non-violent demonstrations as pro-democracy protesters railed against the GDR regime. Thanks in part to his influence, bloody crackdowns on democratic activists were prevented, saving lives in the weeks leading up to the peaceful fall of the Berlin Wall. German Culture Minister Monika Gruetters...