21 Facts About Carlos Kleiber

Carlos Kleiber was a German-born Austrian conductor, who is widely regarded as among the greatest conductors of all time.

In 1935, the Kleiber family emigrated to Buenos Aires and Karl was renamed Carlos.

Carlos Kleiber first studied chemistry at ETH Zurich but soon decided to dedicate himself to music.

Carlos Kleiber was repetiteur at the Gartnerplatz Theatre in Munich in 1952 and made his conducting debut with the operetta Gasparone at Potsdam theatre in 1954.

Carlos Kleiber made his British debut in 1966 with a performance at the Edinburgh Festival of Alban Berg's Wozzeck, a work whose premiere his father had conducted in 1925.

Carlos Kleiber made his Bayreuth debut in 1974 conducting Richard Wagner's Tristan und Isolde.

In 1989, following Herbert von Karajan's resignation from the Berlin Philharmonic, Carlos Kleiber was offered, but declined, the opportunity to succeed him as music director.

Carlos Kleiber returned to the Met in 1989 to conduct La traviata, and in 1990 for Otello and Der Rosenkavalier.

Carlos Kleiber kept out of the public eye and apparently gave one interview in his lifetime, contrary to reports that he never gave any.

Carlos Kleiber left before they were completed, but since a musically complete performance had been set down, Deutsche Grammophon released it, much to Carlos Kleiber's anger.

The Sixth is especially notable as the only occasion on which Carlos Kleiber conducted the work; in this instance the source came not from a radio broadcast but a C-90 compact cassette recorded for his son.

Carlos Kleiber retired from concert life in the early 1990s, occasionally reappearing for private or benefit concerts.

Carlos Kleiber's performances were painstakingly rehearsed, but often seemed spontaneous and inspired.

Carlos Kleiber was buried in the Slovenian village of Konjsica near Litija, where he died in 2004, next to his wife Stanislava Brezovar, a ballet dancer, who had died seven months earlier.

Carlos Kleiber conducted the New Year's Concert of the Vienna Philharmonic in 1989 and 1992, which are both preserved on video.

In 2008 Rai Radio 3, inside its evening program Radio3 Suite, broadcast a 10-episode program dedicated to Kleiber's legacy: Il Sorriso della Musica: un Ritratto di Carlos Kleiber, organized and hosted by Andrea Ottonello, with participation by Claudio Abbado, Mirella Freni, Maurizio Pollini, and above all Carlos Kleiber's sister, Veronica.

Carlos Kleiber, who conducted just 96 concerts and around 400 operatic performances in his 74 years, was voted ahead of Leonard Bernstein and Claudio Abbado, who took second and third places respectively.

Carlos Kleiber never turned his back on that fascinating cultural biochemistry.

Carlos Kleiber was voted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame in 2012.

Carlos Kleiber had a vast repertoire, yet restricted himself to a very few works.

Carlos Kleiber reached to the stars for us; even when he broke down in his efforts, he still proved that they exist.