Erich Kleiber

Erich Kleiber was among the most respected Austrian conductors for the first half of the twentieth century, noted for precise, exciting, beautifully shaped performances of the great symphonic and operatic repertory. He had the usual school education, and was taught violin as a boy. He was taken to concerts from an early age, and heard some of the legendary figures of music, including Gustav Mahler. He entered university in Prague in 1908, studying philosophy and the history of the arts, while also entering the Prague Conservatory to study music. He won a prize in 1911 for a s...