Musical culture cannot exist without conductors, just like the film industry without directors, the literary and publishing industry without editors, and fashion projects without designers. The orchestra leader ensures the organic interaction of all instruments during the performance. The conductor is in charge actor on the stage of a philharmonic society, concert hall or any other music venue.

Virtuosos

Coherence symphony orchestra, harmonious sound of numerous musical instruments achieved through the skill of the conductor. It is not for nothing that the most talented of them are awarded various high ranks and titles, and are popularly called “virtuosos.” Indeed, impeccable control of the conductor’s baton allows each musician sitting in the orchestra pit to convey all the nuances of the creative impulse. A huge symphony orchestra suddenly begins to sound like a single whole, and musical composition at the same time it reveals itself in all its splendor.

Famous conductors are united on the basis of skill; they all went through school high art, popularity and recognition of the general public did not immediately come to them. It has gained popularity over the years. For the most part, well-known conductors, in addition to their concert activities, teach, conduct training courses for young musicians, as well as master classes.

Self-sacrifice

The art of conducting an orchestra requires many years of practice, continuous improvement, which results in endless rehearsals. Some famous conductors are distinguished by special creative tenacity, bordering on self-sacrifice, when personal life moves into the background and only the music remains. However, similar situation benefits art.

The most famous conductors are bound by contracts with certain musical groups, and this gives them the opportunity to achieve high level execution musical works. At the same time, general mutual understanding is necessary, which will subsequently serve as the key to successful concert activities.

Famous opera conductors

In the world music hierarchy there are names that everyone knows. The names of famous opera conductors can be found on posters, billboards, and cruise ships are named after them. This popularity is well deserved, since few people are still able to devote their entire lives, without a trace, to music. The most famous conductors travel around the world, touring with various musical groups or leading orchestras in major music centers. Opera performances require special coordination of the orchestra when accompanying vocal parts, arias and cavatinas. In all music agencies you can find out the names of famous opera conductors who can be invited for a season or a series of performances. Experienced impresarios know the working style and character traits of each person. This helps them make the right choice.

Famous conductors of Russia

Music, especially opera, has many components. There is also an orchestra, which includes a variety of instruments: winds, strings, bows, percussion. Soloists, vocal performers, choir and other participants in the performance. The disparate fragments of the opera performance are united into one whole by the director of the performance and the conductor of the orchestra. Moreover, the latter actively participates in the action from beginning to end. There are conductors in Russia who direct opera with their music for the sole reason the right way, which leads the viewer to real art.

Famous conductors of Russia (list):

• Alexandrov Alexander Vasilievich.
• Bashmet Yuri Abramovich.
• Bezrodnaya Svetlana Borisovna.
• Bogoslovsky Nikita Vladimirovich.
• Bronevitsky Alexander Alexandrovich.
• Vasilenko Sergey Nikiforovich.
• Garanyan Georgy Abramovich.
• Gergiev Valery Abisalovich.
• Gorenshtein Mark Borisovich.
• Diaghilev Sergei Alexandrovich.
• Evtushenko Alexey Mikhailovich.
• Ermakova Lyudmila Vladimirovna.
• Kabalevsky Dmitry Borisovich.
• Kazhlaev Murad Magomedovich.
• Kogan Pavel Leonidovich.
• Lundstrem Oleg Leonidovich
• Mravinsky Evgeniy Alexandrovich.
• Svetlanov Evgeny Fedorovich.
• Spivakov Vladimir Teodorovich.

Everyone is famous Russian conductor can successfully lead any foreign symphony orchestra; a few rehearsals are enough for this. The professionalism of musicians helps to overcome and the language barrier, and the difference in styles.

World celebrities

Famous conductors in the world are talented musicians recognized by the general public.

Pavel Kogan

The most famous Russian conductor, who has been giving the world his art for more than forty years. His popularity is unprecedented. The maestro's name is on the list of the ten greatest modern conductors. The musician was born into a family of famous violinists, Leonid Kogan and Elizaveta Gilels. Since 1989 it has been permanent artistic director, as well as the Chief Conductor of the MGASO (Moscow State Symphony Orchestra). At the same time, he represents Russia in major music centers in America.

Pavel Kogan performs all over the world with the best symphony orchestras, his art is considered unsurpassed. The maestro is a laureate of the State Prize of Russia, bears the title “ National artist Russia." Pavel Kogan also has many awards, including the Order of Merit for the Fatherland and the Order of the Arts.

Herbert von Karajan

The world-famous Austrian-born conductor Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989) was born into a family of Greek immigrants. At the age of eight he entered the Mozarteum Conservatory in Salzburg, where he studied for 10 years and acquired basic conducting skills. At the same time, young Karayan mastered playing the piano.

The debut took place in 1929 at the Salburg Festival Theater. Herbert conducted Richard Strauss' opera Salome. In the period from 1929 to 1934 he was the Chief Kapellmeister in the theater of the German city of Ulm. Then Karajan for a long time stood at the conductor's stand of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. At the same time he performed Charles Gounod's opera "Walpurgis Night".

The conductor's finest hour came in 1938, when Richard Wagner's opera "Tristan and Isolde" in his performance was a huge success, after which Herbert began to be called "Miracle Karajan".

Leonard Bernstein

American conductor Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990), was born into a family of Jewish immigrants. Musical education began for Leonard as a child, he learned to play the piano. However, the boy gradually became accustomed to conducting, and in 1939 he made his debut - young Bernstein performed with small orchestra composition own composition called The Birds.

Thanks to his high professionalism, Leonard Bernstein quickly gained popularity and, already in his young years, led the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. Being comprehensive creative person, the conductor studied literature. He has written about a dozen books dedicated to music.

Valery Gergiev

The famous conductor Valery Abisalovich Gergiev was born on May 2, 1953 in Moscow. At the age of nineteen he entered the Leningrad Conservatory. As a student I participated in international competition conductors in Berlin, where he took second place.

After graduating from the conservatory in 1977, the young conductor was accepted as an assistant at the Kirov Theater. Yuri Temirkanov became his mentor, and already in 1978 Valery Gergiev stood at the controls and performed Prokofiev’s opera “War and Peace”. In 1988, he replaced Yuri Temirkanov, after his departure to the Leningrad Philharmonic.

The year 1992 was marked by the return to the Kirov Theater of its historical name"Mariinskii Opera House". The theater audience in St. Petersburg, in order to attend opera performances, makes reservations in advance, months in advance. Today Valery Gergiev is the theater's chief conductor and its artistic director.

Evgeny Svetlanov

The famous conductor, Russian and international, Evgeniy Fedorovich Svetlanov (1928-2002) left a noticeable mark on cultural heritage Russia. Holds the title of "Hero" Socialist Labor" and "People's Artist of the USSR." He is a laureate of the Lenin and State Prizes of the USSR.

Svetlanov’s creative career began immediately after graduating from the Gnessin Institute in 1951. He continued his studies at the Moscow Conservatory in the class of opera and symphony conducting and composition.

The debut took place in 1954 on stage Bolshoi Theater in the production of Rimsky-Korsakov's opera "The Pskov Woman". From 1963 to 1965 he was chief conductor of the Bolshoi Theater. During his work, the level of opera performances increased noticeably.

In 1965-2000 combined work as artistic director and chief conductor of the State Symphony Orchestra of the USSR (later Russia).

Vladimir Spivakov

Russian conductor Vladimir Teodorovich Spivakov was born in 1944 in the city of Ufa. In 1968 he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory, in 1970 he graduated from graduate school.

Vladimir Spivakov studied his craft at the Gorky Conservatory with Professor Israel Gusman. Later he took a special course in the USA, with Leonard Bernstein and Lorin Maazel.

Currently, he is the permanent director and conductor of the Moscow Virtuosi chamber symphony orchestra, which he personally organized in 1979. He has performed with European orchestras and US musical groups. He has conducted at the La Scala Theatre, the Accademia Cecilia, the Philharmonic of the German city of Cologne and the French Radio. He is the president of the International House of Music in Moscow.

Yuri Bashmet

Russian conductor Bashmet Yuri Abramovich was born on January 24, 1953 in Rostov-on-Don. People's Artist of the USSR. Winner of four State Prizes of the Russian Federation.

In 1976 he graduated from the Moscow Conservatory. In 1972, while still a student, he purchased a viola violin Italian master Paolo Testore, made in 1758. Bashmet still plays this unique instrument today.

Active concert activities began in 1976, and two years later received a teaching position at the Moscow Conservatory. In 1996, Yuri Bashmet created the “Experimental Viola Department”, where the study of viola parts in symphony, opera and chamber music. At the same time he received the title of professor at the Moscow Conservatory. Currently engaged in active charitable and social activities.

Publications in the Music section

With a wave of your hand

Valery Gergiev. Photo: Michal Dolezal / TASS

Top 5 Russian conductors.

Valery Gergiev

Employees of one reputable magazine about classical music once set out to find out when Maestro Gergiev sleeps. We compared schedules for tours, rehearsals, flights, press conferences and receptions. And it turned out: never. It turns out that he also does not eat, does not drink, does not see his family and, naturally, does not rest. Well, efficiency is the key to success. This is the only way to become one of the most sought-after and most popular conductors in the world - such as Valery Gergiev.

At the age of 7, Valera’s parents took her to music school. The boy looked very worried and kept looking out the window. Of course, he was distracted from football, and then ours are losing! After listening, the teacher turned to his mother: “It seems to me that he has no hearing. Maybe he will become Pele...” But you can’t fool a mother’s heart. She always knew that her Valera was a genius, and she got him accepted into a music school. A month later, the teacher took back his words. The triumph of the young musician, who left Vladikavkaz for Leningrad, to the conservatory, was victory at the Herbert von Karajan Competition - the most prestigious of all. Since then, Gergiev knows the value of victories - and, as best he can, he takes care of the young and talented musicians who happen to be nearby.

At 35 years old - he is an artistic director Mariinsky Theater! It’s unthinkable: a huge colossus with two troupes - an opera and a ballet - and an excellent symphony orchestra, inherited from Yuri Temirkanov, is at your disposal. And you can play any music you want. Even Wagner, so dearly loved by Gergiev. Valery Abisalovich will stage “The Ring of the Nibelung” in his theater - all four operas, running four evenings in a row. Today only the Mariinsky Theater can do this.

But there is still an unspoken competition with Moscow. They built a new stage for the Bolshoi, closed it for reconstruction - and Gergiev is building a new one in St. Petersburg concert hall, without a single state penny (Mariinsky-3), then - a luxurious New stage Mariinsky-2.

Gergiev conquered Moscow seriously and for a long time at the beginning of the 2000s, when he founded the Easter festival here and, of course, headed it. What was happening in the capital on Easter Sunday! Bolshaya Nikitskaya was blocked off by the police, on the approach to the Great Hall of the Conservatory there were a lot of media people, they didn’t just ask for an extra ticket - they snatched it out of their hands for any money. Muscovites were so yearning for good orchestras that they were ready to pray to Gergiev, who with his orchestra provided them with not just quality - sometimes there were revelations. And so, in general, it continues to this day. Only now these are no longer several concerts, as in 2001, but 150 - throughout Russia and even beyond its borders. A man of great scope!

Vladimir Spivakov. Photo: Sergey Fadeichev / TASS

Vladimir Spivakov

Professor Yankelevich gave talented student The Central Music School gave Volodya Spivakov the very violin with which he would make his musical career. Instrument of the Venetian master Gobetti. She had a “heart attack” - a wooden inlay on her chest, and the violin makers believed that, in fact, it should not sound. But not with Spivakov. “Vovochka, it’s good to sell violins with you: any pan starts sounding in three minutes,” the old man once told him violin maker. Much later, through the efforts of his wife Sati, Vladimir Teodorovich will have the treasured Stradivarius. Violinist Vladimir Spivakov conquered the world with Gobetti: he won several prestigious competitions and toured all the best stages on the planet, not disdaining, however, the outback, including the Russian one - there was also an audience waiting there.

The brilliant violinist conquered the whole world. But in the mid-70s, at the very height of his career, he began to study the profession of a conductor. The elder of the conducting school, Lorin Maazel, asked if he had gone crazy. Why does he need this if he plays so divinely? But Spivakov was adamant. His great teacher Leonard Bernstein was so captivated by his student’s persistence and talent that he gave him his baton. But it’s one thing to learn how to conduct, and another thing to find a team for this. Spivakov did not look for it, he created it: in the spring of 1979, the chamber orchestra “Moscow Virtuosi” appeared. The orchestra quickly became famous, but before official recognition the musicians had to rehearse at night - in firehouses, housing offices, and in the club of the Frunze Military Academy. According to Spivakov himself, once in Tomsk the orchestra gave three concerts on one day: at five, seven and nine o’clock. And the listeners brought food to the musicians - potatoes, pies, dumplings.

The journey to the Great Hall of the Conservatory for the Moscow Virtuosi was short-lived: to say that the orchestra was popular is not enough, only superlative. Following the example of his festival in Colmar, France, he organized a festival in Moscow, where he invites world stars. Next to the creative forces, another line has appeared - charity; the Spivakov Foundation knows how to find and support talent, and scholarship recipients compete only with themselves (one of the first was Evgeniy Kissin).

In the 2000s, Vladimir Teodorovich created another group - the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Russia. It is based at the Moscow International House of Music, whose president is Vladimir Spivakov.

Yuri Bashmet. Photo: Valentin Baranovsky / TASS

Yuri Bashmet

Here's a man with happy fate. He, like Yuri Gagarin, is the first. Of course, he is not driven in an open-top limousine through the streets of our capital and all other capitals of the world, and streets and squares are not named after him. However... Music schools are named after him, and enthusiastic fans all over the world have laid probably a million at his feet Red roses- or even more.

Did he know when in the Lviv central music school transferred from violin to viola, what will glorify this hitherto considered unpretentious instrument? And the Beatles are to blame for everything. We can say that they gave the world both viola and Bashmet. Like any teenager, he got carried away - so much so that he put together his own group and performed at holidays secretly from his parents. And then he didn’t know how to admit that he had a stack of large denomination bills hidden, while my mother spent one in a month.

After the Lviv Central Music School, he entered the Moscow Conservatory, went to the first foreign competition - he aimed straight at the prestigious ARD in Munich (and there were no others in viola) and won! Do you think this is where his career began? Just not at home. IN Great hall He played the conservatory solo when his viola had already been performed in New York, Tokyo and on European stages. In Moscow they respected the chain of command: “How can we give you a hall when we have honored and popular people on our staff?” (It didn't matter that they were orchestra members.)

Don't want to release with solo programs? I'll create an orchestra. Fans and admirers traveled all over Russia to watch “Moscow Soloists”, it was one of the best chamber orchestras THE USSR. And then the sound of the viola was heard by composers who, by a happy accident (20th century!), were looking for new means of expression. They created an idol for themselves and the public, and began to write more and more opuses for the viola. Today, the number of works dedicated to him amounts to dozens, and the composer’s passion does not stop: everyone wants to write for Bashmet.

Yuri Bashmet today leads two orchestras (Moscow Soloists and New Russia"), heads several festivals (the most famous of them is the Winter Festival in Sochi), devotes a lot of time to working with children: organizing master classes and working with a youth symphony orchestra, where, of course, the best of the best play.

Yuri Temirkanov. Photo: Alexander Kurov / TASS

Yuri Temirkanov

Did Sergei Prokofiev guess that the little boy, the son of the head of the Committee for the Arts of Kabardino-Balkaria (he took care of the Moscow musical “landing force” during the evacuation), would become one of the best conductors in the world? And besides, a passionate admirer of Prokofiev’s own music: Yuri Temirkanov has not only performed the composer’s famous scores, but also revived forgotten ones. His interpretations of Shostakovich's symphonies or Tchaikovsky's operas are considered standard ones and are oriented towards them. His orchestra - with a long name, which in common parlance turned into "Merit" (from the honored ensemble of Russia - the Academic Symphony Orchestra of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic named after D. D. Shostakovich) - was included in the ranking of the best orchestras in the world.

At the age of 13, Temirkanov came to Leningrad and cast his lot in with this city. The Central Music School at the Conservatory, the conservatory itself, first the orchestral department, then the conducting department, with the legendary Ilya Musin. His career developed rapidly: after the conservatory, he made his debut at the Maly opera house(Mikhailovsky), on next year won the competition and went on tour - to America - with Kirill Kondrashin and David Oistrakh. Then he headed the Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra and in 1976 became the chief conductor of the Kirov Theater. Where he created those very standard interpretations of Tchaikovsky’s operas, and staged one of them - “The Queen of Spades” - himself. Valery Gergiev, by the way, recently restored this production and returned it to the Mariinsky stage. In 1988, this is a subject of special pride for the conductor: he was chosen - and not appointed “from above”! - chief conductor of that very “Merit”, and then artistic director of the St. Petersburg Philharmonic.

Algis Zhuraitis. Photo: Kosinets Alexander / TASS

Algis Juraitis

People's Artist of Russia, laureate of the USSR State Prize Algis Zhuraitis lived 70 years and worked for 28 of them the best theater big country - Bolshoy. A native of Lithuania, he graduated from the Vilnius Conservatory (and later received another education at the Moscow Conservatory) and made his debut at the Lithuanian Opera and Ballet Theater. The talented conductor was quickly noticed in the capital - and Zhuraitis received a place in Moscow: first he was an assistant conductor of the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra of the All-Union Radio, then a conductor of the Mosconcert and, finally, in 1960 he ended up at the Bolshoi Theater.

Zhuraitis became famous for his work with Yuri Grigorovich: most of the performances famous choreographer released at the Bolshoi precisely with Zyuraitis, including the legendary “Spartak”.

The conductor received scandalous fame from his article in the newspaper Pravda, dedicated to the experimental performance of Alfred Schnittke and Yuri Lyubimov “The Queen of Spades”: as a result of the publication, the production did not receive a premiere and was banned. Much later in his interviews, Schnittke would suggest that the secretary of the CPSU Central Committee for ideology, Mikhail Suslov, known for his skillful intrigues, was behind the appearance of this publication.

For the last 20 years, the conductor was married to singer Elena Obraztsova. “In an instant I fell in love with Algis Žuraitis. I don’t understand how this happened - in one second! We were returning from a tour and ended up in the same compartment... There were no provocations on either side. We sat and chatted. And suddenly a spark flared up between us! And I could no longer live without him.”

It would be unheard of arrogance on my part to talk about famous conductors of all times and peoples. On this score, I can only provide you with a link to the opinion of more authoritative experts than me :). But mine own opinion After all, it also has some value, like any independent opinion of a thinking person, right? Therefore, I proceed as follows: I will try to highlight the main stages in the development of the art of directing and the names of famous conductors associated with these stages. This will be fair on all sides :)

• One of the early stages of conducting

associated with a very bulky object called a battuta. A kind of rod with which the main music director hit the floor, measuring the beat. And with this very trampoline is connected, in turn, the most ridiculous tragic incident in musical world. Composer, musician and conductor Jean-Baptiste Lully died of gangrene in 1687. And the reason was a leg injury while conducting using a trampoline...

• In the 17th century, the role of the conductor

very often performed by the leading musicians of the orchestra. Sometimes they were organists or harpsichordists, but more often they were violinists. Probably, the expression “first violin” came from this tradition? And here I would like to say the following, enough modern name: Willie Boskowski. A violinist and conductor, he served as concertmaster of the famous Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra for several decades of the 20th century. And this orchestra, by tradition, has never had a chief conductor. Boskowski often conducted in the manner of Strauss himself - with a violin in hand.

• At the end of the 18th, in the 19th century, musical works

became so complicated that the next logical step was the formation of the profession of a “liberated” conductor. Now they perform works not only of their own compositions, but also of other colleagues in the workshop. And over time, there is a clear division between types of activities: a conductor is no longer necessarily a composer! One of the first professional conductors who managed to gain an international reputation were Hans von Bulow And Herman Levi.

• One cannot fail to mention such an event – ​​the appearance of the conductor’s baton.

This happened in the 19th century and the form of this important instrument that was determined at that time remains traditional today. And they consider him an inventor German composer and conductor Louis Spohr.

• There is a truly revolutionary moment in the history of conducting.

Namely: the conductor turns to face the orchestra and back to the public! Honestly: I have no idea, but what was it like before this? The maestro couldn’t conduct while facing the audience, but with his back to the musicians?! Well, be that as it may, this event is celebrated as special. And in this regard, I remember the most heartfelt, heart-tugging fragment: the completely deaf Beethoven conducts the premiere of his symphony No. 9. Execution completed. The composer is unable to hear any sounds. With his back to the audience, he cannot see the audience's reaction. And then the musicians turn him around to face the audience and Beethoven sees the triumph his new work has caused.

• Finally, let me voice my personal affection :).

How unexpectedly I found out for myself: it is difficult for me to judge a conductor’s professionalism, so in my assessments I “add” such qualities as artistry and a sense of humor. This is probably why, among the conductors of the 20th century, I single out two: Gennady Rozhdestvensky And Daniel Barenboim. I end this post with a recording of the latter’s speech:

The name of Herbert von Karajan in the world consciousness is inseparably linked with Salzburg. The conductor, born in 1908 in Salzburg, for decades shaped cultural life city ​​of Mozart and was at the head of events.

In the conductor's footsteps
Walking around the city of Salzburg, you constantly find yourself in places associated with life and creativity outstanding conductor. Bronze statue human-sized, located in the center of Salzburg's Old Town, next to the Makart pedestrian bridge, in the garden of the Raiffeisen Bank, reminiscent of Herbert von Karajan. An inscription on a plaque in a nearby building states that Karajan was born in this house on April 5, 1908. The city of Salzburg honored its famous son, naming one of the notable squares in the Festival District Herbert von Karajan Platz.

His grave is located in the cemetery in Anif, a small place near the city of Salzburg, where Herbert von Karajan lived for many years. Over time, the grave became a place of pilgrimage for admirers of Karajan’s talent from all over the world.

Herbert von Karajan and the Salzburg Summer Festival
IN post-war years The era of Herbert von Karajan began in Salzburg. In 1948, he first conducted the opera production of Gluck's Orpheus, in 1956 he was appointed artistic director, and in 1957 he made his debut as a director in Beethoven's opera Fidelio.
In 1960, Herbert von Karajan inaugurated the new building of the Great Festival Hall of the theater complex with a production of Richard Strauss's opera Der Rosenkavalier and proclaimed the beginning of a new era. Even when Karajan, starting in September 1960, was no longer the sole artistic director, but since 1964 was on the board of directors, he still always remained the one who holds the threads of the enterprise in his hands and makes the most important decisions: as “the last autocratic "lord," referring to a saying in one of his obituaries after his death in 1989.

In 1967 he founded the Salzburg Easter Festival, which he directed until his death: every year he staged an opera production in collaboration with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, made available by the Berlin Senate, and subsequently organized concerts in Salzburg during the Holy Trinity.

Era of Karajan
Karajan contributed to the provision of the Salzburg Summer Festival international status. While in previous decades the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera was at the head of the cast, Salzburg has now become a meeting place for multilingual international stars who, as free artists, feel at home on famous stages from Milan to New York.

This began to attract numerous guests from abroad.
For many decades in a row, the conductor, like no one else, not only personified music scene, but also accelerated the development of musical documentation. IN last years Throughout his life, with great interest and energy - mainly under his own leadership of the orchestra - he collected and documented musical masterpieces for the world.

Carlos Kleiber has been named the best conductor of all time.
According to the results of a survey conducted by an English magazine BBC Music Magazine, Carlos Kleiber recognized as the best conductor of all time. The survey was conducted among 100 leading conductors of our time, such as Sir Colin Davis, Gustavo Dudamel, Valery Gergiev, Maris Jansons and others, to find out which of their colleagues they admire most (who is an inspiration to them). Carlos Kleiber, the Austrian maestro who performed only 96 concerts and about 400 opera performances in his 74 years, finished ahead of Leonard Bernstein and Claudio Abbado, who came in second and third place respectively.

Susanna Mälkki, Finnish conductor of the French Ensemble Intercontemporain and one of the survey participants, commented on the results: “Carlos Kleiber brought incredible energy to the music... Yes, he had about five times more time for rehearsals than modern conductors can afford, but he deserves it because his vision for music is amazing, he knows exactly what he wants and his attention to to the smallest details really inspiring."

So, 20 Best Conductors of All Time based on a BBC Music Magazine survey conducted in November 2010 and published in March 2011.

1. Carlos Kleiber (1930-2004) Austria
2. Leonard Bernstein (1918-1990) USA
3. (born 1933) Italy
4. Herbert von Karajan (1908-1989) Austria
5. Nikolaus Harnoncourt (born 1929) Austria
6. Sir Simon Rattle (born 1955) UK
7. Wilhelm Furtwangler (1896-1954) Germany
8. Arturo Toscanini (1867-1957) Italy
9. Pierre Boulez (born 1925) France
10. Carlo Maria Giulini (1914-2005) Italy
11. John Eliot Gardiner (born 1943) UK
12.
13. Ferenc Fricsay (1914-1963) Hungary
14. George Szell (1897-1970) Hungary
15. Bernard Haitink (born 1929) Netherlands
16. Pierre Monteux (1875-1964) France
17. Evgeny Mravinsky (1903-1988) Russia (USSR)
18. Colin Davis (born 1927) UK
19. Thomas Beecham (1879-1961) UK
20. Charles Mackerras (1925-2010) Australia

Biographical information:
Carlos Kleiber, full name Karl Ludwig Kleiber - Austrian conductor. Born on July 3, 1930 in Berlin, the son of the famous conductor Erich Kleiber. Grew up in Argentina, 1949-1950. studied chemistry in Zurich. Musical career started in 1951 as a tutor in Munich. Kleiber's conducting debut took place in 1954 in Potsdam. Then he worked in Düsseldorf, Zurich and Stuttgart. In 1968-1973. worked at the Bavarian State Opera in Munich and remained its guest conductor until 1988. In 1973 he performed for the first time at the Vienna State Opera. He performed at La Scala, Covent Garden (since 1974), Metropolitan Opera (since 1988) and other theaters; participated in the Edinburgh Festival (since 1966). He has collaborated with the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras. Last performance conductor took place in 1999. Died on July 13, 2004 in Slovenia.

L.V.Beethoven. Symphony No. 7 op.92.
Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra (Netherlands). Conducted by Carlos Kleiber.