Christoph von Dohnányi

Conductor Christoph von Dohnányi gained renown as one of the world's most versatile practitioners of his art in the last decades of the 20th century and beyond. He was known for interpretations of Romantic orchestral music, opera, and the music of the Second Viennese School. He was also associated with several important world premieres. Dohnányi was well-known in the English-speaking world through his work as conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra in the U.S. and the Philharmonia Orchestra in London. His recording catalog was vast and continued to grow into his eighties and nineties, with new releases and reissues of classic performances. Dohnányi was born in Berlin on September 8, 1929. His grandfather was composer Ernst von Dohnányi, and his maternal uncle, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, was an activist anti-Nazi minister who was hanged shortly before the end of World War II. His father was also active in the anti-Nazi resistance and was executed. Dohnányi studied piano but took pre-law courses at the University of Munich after the war. He switched to music, entering the Musikhochschule in Munich and winning prizes at the school in conducting and composition. Dohnányi moved to Florida in 1949 to study at the University of Florida with Ernst von Dohnányi, and he also took conducting classes from Leonard Bernstein at the Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts. Dohnányi returned to Germany in 1952 and held a sequence of posts there, including those of Generalmusikdirektor in the cities of Lübeck and Kassel, chief conductor of the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra (1964-1969), director of the Frankfurt Opera (1968-1977), and Intendent and Principal Conductor of the Hamburg State Opera (1978-1984). He conducted the premieres of two Hans Werner Henze operas, Der Junge Lord in 1965 and Die Bassariden in 1966, and he served as guest conductor at Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan, and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. An early digital recording was one of Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 ("Eroica"), with the Cleveland Orchestra, released by Telarc in 1983. The following year, Dohnányi became music director of the Cleveland Orchestra. He maintained the group's legendary sense of ensemble, developed under his predecessors George Szell and Lorin Maazel. Dohnányi's recording program in Cleveland was vigorous and varied, featuring many works in the German Romantic tradition but also ranging as far afield as Ives, Edgard Varèse, and John Adams. His cycle of Brahms symphonies with the Cleveland Orchestra was reissued several times. Dohnányi stepped down as music director in Cleveland in 2004, becoming chief conductor of the NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg, remaining in that post until 2010. His Cleveland Orchestra recordings continued to receive reissues into the 2010s. Dohnányi also served as principal conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra from 1997 to 2008, not only leading the group in London but also taking it on tour to major European venues such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Salzburg Festival. A live recording of Schubert's Symphony No. 9 in C major, D. 944 ("The Great"), with the Philharmonia, was recorded in 2015 and appeared the following year on the Decca label. He remained active as a guest conductor, leading the Vienna Philharmonic in his 90th year in 2019. By the mid-2020s, his recording catalog comprised well over 100 items, plus appearances on numerous compilations. Dohnányi died in Munich on September 6, 2025. ~ James Manheim, Rovi