Otto Klemperer

Otto Klemperer was one of the great conductors of the 20th Century, with a formidable reputation for austere, monumental performances of the great Germanic classics. He rapidly to fame after successfully substituting as conductor in Max Reinhardt¹s Berlin production of Orfèe aux enfers. In 1905 he led the off-stage brass in the Second Symphony of Gustav Mahler, who recommended Klemperer for employment as Chorus Master of the German Opera in Prague. Klemperer debuted as a conductor there in Die Freischütz, and got a conducting job in Hamburg in 1910. He assisted Mahler, in the...