Conductor Christian Thielemann was born in Berlin, Germany on April 1, 1959, and
has conducted the New Year's Concert in Vienna on several occasions. After
completing his musical apprenticeship on piano at the age of five, followed by
viola, he went on to study composition and conducting. In 1979, he assisted
Herbert von Karajan at the Berlin Philharmonic and the Salzburg Festival, before
continuing with Daniel Barenboim at the Bayreuth Festival. Hired as Principal
Conductor of Düsseldorf's Deutsche Oper am Rhein in 1985, he was subsequently
appointed Music Director of the Nuremb...