Ehrling's tenure with the Swedish Royal Opera ended in bitterness. He resigned his post and departed for the United States after he was asked to amend, and apologise for, his robust leadership style. In 1963 Ehrling replaced the departing Paul Paray as the principal conductor of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. During his time in Detroit, the composer Luciano Berio had a brief residency. Ehrling was, perhaps, the perfect journeyman conductor. He could, and did, conduct everything well: opera, symphonic and choral music. He had perfect sympathy to style and period in whatever he conducted, focusing the attention on the music rather than himself. Unlike Leonard Bernstein or Leopold Stokowski, however, he did not take the role of innovator on the podium.
Maestro Ehrling conducted nearly 700 works, including 24 world premieres, and helped inaugurate the Meadow Brook Summer Music Festival. In 1973, he made his Metropolitan Opera debut, where he conducted 12 different operas, including Wagner's "Ring Cycle." He led 55 orchestras and ensembles in North and South America, and countless orchestras around the world, during his celebrated five decade career.
He was awarded the Illis quorum in 1988 and the honorary title of professor (Professors namn) in 1982.[2]
Maestro Ehrling's difficult personality was overshadowed only by his wit. "Someone once told me I was not difficult, I was impossible. I agreed," he confided to Detroit Free Press music critic John Guinn on July 1, 1990. He told his American publicist that he preferred reading his reviews in the smallest room of his house, and brilliantly interwove business arrangements with extremely humorous observations.
"In his final interview with Guinn, he noted that "They had a ceremony In Sweden for my birthday recently, and the man giving the birthday tribute had a great line. 'Mr. Ehrling nowadays is not angry,' he said. Then he paused, 'All the time,' he added."
Ehrling was one of the last conductors to know both Stravinsky and Sibelius, personally.
When he discovered mistakes in their manuscripts, they were immediately informed.
Sixten Ehrling died on February 13, 2005, in New York, where he had lived since the 1970s. He was married to a former Stockholm opera ballerina, Gunnel Lindgren. They had two daughters.[3]
