The son of a
World War II war-hero, and the grandson of a composer, Dohnanyi was born in Germany on September 8, 1929. Near the end of the war, his father was part of the
conspiracy to kill
Hitler.
From
1984 until
2002, Christoph von Dohnanyi served as music director of the
Cleveland Orchestra. During this time, he led this
orchestra to an astounding 1000 concerts! That's almost 56 concerts per year, or almost 5 concerts per month, more than 1 every week! For
eighteen years!
Currently, Dohnanyi is conductor laureate of the Cleveland Orchestra. He also makes guest conductor appearances in Boston, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago and New York. On a side note, I don't really enjoy the Boston Pops, but that's just me.
Also, since 1997, Dohnanyi has been the chief conductor of the London Philharmonia, after having been a guest conductor there since 1994.
Some more distinguished elements of Dohannyi's career include having conducted in some of the most beautiful opera houses in the world, such as La Scala, Vienna State Opera house, and the Berlin and Paris opera houses.