In 1993, to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, Masur led the group on a twelve-day tour. Masur secured money from Japanese donors and helped to restore the house Mendelssohn had lived and died in and turned it into a museum. The conductor has performed Mendelssohn's entire works in Leipzig. In October 1999, Masur told the
Jerusalem Post, "After the Second World War, a lot of musicians came to Leipzig and tried to rebuild his image. I did it all my life because for me he was a very special human being. I was always fascinated by this kind of commitment about how much he cared for the people of his time. And so I fought for his recognition. It was not easy as many believe that Bach should be the city's foremost musical son. But they complement each other well."
Masur made his U.S. debut as a guest conductor for the Cleveland Orchestra. That same year, he led the Gewandhaus Orchestra on its first-ever U.S. tour. He also served as a professor at the Leipzig Academy of Music for several years, beginning in 1975. Although Masur had many opportunities to leave East Germany and conduct elsewhere, he did not want to leave the Gewandhaus.
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