Sixten Ehrling, who conducted at the Royal Opera in Stockholm during its golden age in the 1950s and then left for the United States, where he led the Detroit Symphony for a decade, died Sunday in New York. He was 86.

Ehrling, who was known for his vast knowledge of music and for his sharp temperament, also taught at Juilliard, and conducted Wagner’s Ring Cycle at the Metropolitan Opera.

Born in 1918 in Malmoe, Ehrling studied piano and violin at the Royal Academy of Music in Stockholm. After conducting Sweden’s Royal Opera and receiving the coveted Jenny Lind scholarship in 1939, he joined the Dresden State Opera in Germany, where he worked under the conductor Karl Bohm.

After a breakthrough performance in 1950, of Stravinsky’s “Rite of Spring” at the Stockholm concert hall, Ehrling moved to the Swedish opera house, where he became the principal conductor, a position he held until 1960. He resigned after being criticized for his conducting method.

“At the Stockholm opera, they wanted me to apologize for the way I led the orchestra, which I refused. I moved to America instead,” he said in an interview with Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet in 1998.

He joined the Detroit Symphony Orchestra in 1963, replacing its French conductor, Paul Paray.

In Sweden, Ehrling was viewed with awe, famous for his encyclopedic knowledge of music and for his temperament. He would become furious if instrumentalists failed to heed his instructions and had a short temper with audiences. While conducting Bizet’s “Carmen” in Goteborg in 1988, he had the orchestra play while concertgoers were still making their way to their seats. “I’ll teach that damned audience that they should be in their seats on time when I conduct,” he was quoted by newspapers as saying.