Herbert von Karajan

Herbert von Karajan (German: [ˈhɛʁbɛʁt fɔn ˈka(ː)ʁajan] ; born Heribert Adolf Ernst Ritter von Karajan; 5 April 1908 – 16 July 1989) was an Austrian conductor. He was principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic for 34 years. During the Nazi era, he debuted at the Salzburg Festival, with the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, and during World War II he conducted at the Berlin State Opera. Generally regarded as one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, he was a controversial but dominant figure in European classical music from the mid-1950s until his death. Part of the reason for this was the large number of recordings he made and their prominence during his lifetime. By one estimate, he sold 200 million records.

Similar Artists

Otto Klemperer

Wilhelm Furtwängler

Arturo Toscanini

Claudio Abbado

Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Wiener Philharmoniker

Boston Symphony Orchestra

Sir Colin Davis

David Bell

Leonard Bernstein

Valery Gergiev

Lorin Maazel

Zubin Mehta

Karl Böhm

New York Philharmonic

Sir Simon Rattle

Carlos Kleiber

Berliner Philharmoniker

Daniel Barenboim

Riccardo Muti