Kurt Masur has suffered another bad fall, this time breaking his hip. According to Stefana Atlas, the 85-year-old maestro's operations director, he fell in his hotel room last week in Tel Aviv, where he was scheduled to conduct the Israel Philharmonic over the next two weeks. He has since undergone hip replacement surgery and has had to cancel the remainder of his concerts there.
Doctors have not yet predicted when the conductor can return to podium duties, but for younger patients in robust health, recovery from hip replacement takes about six weeks. Full recovery can take longer. Masur fractured his left shoulder blade last April when he lost his balance and fell sideways from the podium while conducting the ONF in the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.