Background
Sternberg was born on 29 March 1913 in Lwów, Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine), also known then as Lemberg, Austria-Hungary. The son of music-loving parents, he began piano lessons at age five and later added the cello.
Sternberg was born on 29 March 1913 in Lwów, Poland (now Lviv, Ukraine), also known then as Lemberg, Austria-Hungary. The son of music-loving parents, he began piano lessons at age five and later added the cello.
Baccalaureate, Realgymnasium, Vienna, 1931. Student, University Vienna, 1935. Diploma of conductor, Vienna State Academy Music, 1935.
Composition study with Karl Weigl, 1935. Conducting with Fritz Stiedry, 1936.
He lived and worked in Central and Eastern Europe until 1939, when he emigrated to the United States to escape World World War World War II Upon graduation, he became assistant conductor (under Fritz Stiedry) of the Leningrad Opera and the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra. lieutenant was in Leningrad, in 1935, that Sternberg first met cellist Lev Aronson, whom he recommended for the post of principal cellist. lieutenant was also in Leningrad, in 1936, that he conducted the first performance outside Germany of Paul Hindemith"s Mathis der Maler symphony.
After serving as music director of the Tbilisi State Symphony Orchestra, he lived in Vienna, Riga, and Stockholm.
Sternberg lived for a year in New York and then moved to Dallas, Texas, where he became head of the piano department and conductor of chorus and opera at the Hockaday Institute of Music (a short-lived division of the Hockaday School that operated only from 1937 to 1946). He joined the Baylor University School of Music in 1942 and was made its chair the following year.
Shortly afterward he was given the newly created title of Dean. Sternberg founded the Baylor Symphony in 1944 and conducted it until he retired from teaching in 1980.
In Waco, he founded the Waco Symphony in 1962 and conducted it until 1987.
Sternberg died in Waco, Texas, on 26 August 2000.
Member Phi Mu Alpha, Omicron Delta Kappa.
Married Felicitas Gobineau, July 29, 1936.