Franz-Paul Decker, an internationally-renowned conductor, was born in Köln, Germany. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik with Philip Jarnach and Eugen Papst, and later at the University of Köln. He began his career as a conductor in various German cities in 1944, and was the artistic director of the Rotterdam Philharmonic from 1962 to 1968. He then succeeded Zubin Mehta as the artistic director of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, where he conducted from 1967 to 1975. As a guest conductor, Franz-Paul Decker has travelled around the world, conducting all the major European orchestras and touring widely in South America, Australia and New Zealand. Franz-Paul Decker was awarded an honorary doctorate by McGill University in 2002, and has received many other distinctions from governments in Brazil, the Netherlands, Germany and Canada. His recordings have been released by EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, Naxos and CBC Records. Currently, Franz-Paul Decker is the principal guest conductor of the Orquestra Simfònica de Barcelona and Conductor Laureate of the New Zealand Symphony.
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