Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt (5 May 1900 – 28 May 1973) was a German conductor and composer. He was born in Berlin and studied music in Heidelberg and Münster. He was also a composition student with Franz Schreker at the Berlin Hochschule für Musik, and received a doctorate in 1923. He was a repetiteur at the Wuppertal Opera starting in 1923. He held conducting positions at the opera houses of Rostock (1928 - 1931) and Darmstadt (1931 - 1933). He had the post of first conductor at the Hamburg State Opera from 1935 to 1943. In 1944, he was named music director at the Berlin State Opera. In 1945, after the end of World War II, the British military authorities invited Schmidt-Isserstedt to found an orchestra at the North German Radio in Hamburg. In six months, he assembled the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra and conducted its first concert in November 1945. He was subsequently the orchestra's first principal conductor. He became an advocate of music by composers whose music had been outlawed in Germany, such as Béla Bartók, Igor Stravinsky and Paul Hindemith, during the Nazi regime. His favorite composer, however, was Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Schmidt became associated with his music through several recordings and notable performances of his works. In particular his recordings of Mozart's operas Idomeneo and La finta giardiniera are greatly admired. From 1955 to 1964, he was principal conductor also of the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra. He conducted memorable performances of The Marriage of Figaro at the Glyndebourne Festival in 1958, and of Tristan und Isolde at Royal Opera, Covent Garden in 1962. He made a well-regarded recording of all the Beethoven symphonies. In Germany, Schmidt-Isserstedt was a noted champion of the music of Michael Tippett. Schmidt-Isserstedt's own compositions included songs, the opera Hassan gewinnt (Rostock, 1928), and works for orchestra. His son was the British record producer Erik Smith. Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt died in Holm-Holstein, West Germany, in 1973.
 
Gertrud Pitzinger Margot Guilleaume  
Josef Greindl Walter Geisler Johann Sebastian Bach Mass in B minor, BWV 232 Margot Guilleaume, soprano Gertrud Pitzinger, alto Walter Geisler, tenor Josef Greindl, bass Northwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra and Choir Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt 19-20.03.1950 (live in Hamburg Musikhalle) | 
