Kurt Sanderling was born in Arys (Orzysz), East Prussia, to Jewish parents on September 19th, 1912. After early work at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, he left for Russia in 1936, where he worked with the Moscow Radio Symphony Orchestra. From 1942 to 1960 he was joint principal conductor with Yevgeny Mravinsky of the Leningrad Philharmonic.