In 1953 he was appointed repetiteur and conductor at the Frankfurt Opera by Sir Georg Solti. In 1957 he became Germany’s youngest General Music Director at Lübeck and subsequently Chief Conductor at the Westdeutsche Rundfunksinfonieorchester in Cologne.
Christoph von Dohnányi was named General Music Director in Frankfurt in 1968 and, from 1972, concurrently held the post of Director of the Frankfurt Opera. He was Intendant and Chief Conductor of the Hamburg State Opera from 1977 to 1984.
He first conducted The Cleveland Orchestra in 1981 and was appointed Music Director Designate in 1982. He served as the sixth Music Director from 1984 to 2002, and became the orchestra’s Music Director Laureate from the 2002/03 season.
In September 1997 he was appointed Principal Conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra. He regularly conducts the orchestra in subscription concerts, and together they have appeared opera productions at the Châtelet Theatre in Paris, at festivals including the BBC Proms, the Edinburgh International Festival, and Lucerne Festival, and on tour in the US and throughout Europe.
Biography
