Vjekoslav Sutej: Croatian conductor

The Croatian conductor Vjekoslav Sutej, who died on 2 December aged 58, led orchestras in the United States, Italy and Spain and worked with Placido Domingo and Montserrat Caballe. He had led the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra since 2003.

Sutej,who was diagnosed last year with leukemia, studied conducting under Igor Gjadrov in Zagreb and Franco Ferrara in Rome. He began his career in the late 1980s as art director of the Hollybush Festival in New Jersey later working as art director of the Gran Teatro Fenice in Venice and the Houston Grand Opera. He was a Vienna State Opera conductor and led four Christmas concerts with Domingo and Jose Carreras.