Herbert von Karajan

Herbert von Karajan was born in Salzberg, Austria in 1908. He was a recognised child prodigy, being proficient at the piano from a very young age. He studied at the Mozarteum university in Salzberg where he learned the rudimentaries of classical composition and furthered his interest in conducting. After studying conducting further at the Vienna Academy, he scored the job conducting 'Salome' at Festspielhaus in 1929 and, from that position, earned a five year run as kapellmeister for the Stadttheater in Ulm. During his time in Ulm Karajan declared his allegiance to the Nazi party, a highly controversial move for which he would later suffer severe criticism.

From 1934 to '41 Karajan served to conduct the Vienna Philharmonic at the Theater Aachen in Salzberg. While in this position he was invited as a guest conductor to the podiums of Amsterdam, Stockholm, Paris, Bucharest and Brussels, expanding his repertoire and reputation throughout Europe. He made his debut with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1938 when he conducted the Beethoven opera 'Fidelio'. This led to further performances with the Berlin Philharmonic and the State Opera including 'Tristan und Isolde' and with the Staatskapelle Berlin with 'The Magic Flute'.

After marrying Anita Sauest, a woman who was one-quarter Jewish, he faced persecution from the Nazis and, with the help of a friend, Karajan and his wife escaped Germany, relocating to Milan. After the war had ended, Karajan resumed his position with the Vienna Philharmonic, performing intermittently with them until 1956 when he was offered the chance to be principal conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic. He retained his relationship with the Vienna Philharmonic, serving as their artist director from '57 to '64, but Berlin was where his loyalties lay and he continued his duties until 1989, when he resigned his position due to ill health. Just three months later Herbert von Karajan died of a heart attack.