IS CHRISTIAN THIELEMANN THE LAST GREAT GERMAN CONDUCTOR?

The protégé of Karajan was Music Director in Bayreuth, is now the GMD of the StaatsOper Berlin and has been awarded honorary membership to the Vienna Philharmonic. How? Read on.

Dustin Hoffman once asked the legendary actor Sir Laurence Olivier, "Why is it that we do what we do?" Olivier responded: "Look at me, look at me, look at me. " I also recall myself being a young conductor and asking a famous artist manager the question of what is a conductor? He similarly replied: “Repertoire, repertoire, repertoire.”

All conductors …