Gunnar Staern

Swedish conductor, born 23 January 1922 in Danderyds parish, died 19 February 2011 in Malmö. He grew up in Djursholm and first studied at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm in the years 1940–1944. There he graduated with a higher organ and cantor degree and continued to study conducting for Tor Mann and singing for Nanny Larsen-Todsen. Conductor studies continued for a couple of the greatest conductors of the time, Wilhelm Furtwängler and Herbert von Karajan. Gunnar Staern's first wife was the music educator Dagny Holtsberg. Their daughter was the singer Camilla Staern. His second wife, in the years 1950–1959, was the pianist Käbi Laretei, with whom he has the daughter Linda Stern (born 1955). The third wife was Berit Frodi (19 April 1926 – 17 July 2025). With his fourth wife, the choir singer Harriet Cronström, he has the son, Benjamin Staern, who is a composer.