Otto Klemperer

Otto Klemperer was a German and GermanAmerican conductor and composer. He is widely regarded as one of the leading conductors of the 20th century.

Otto Klemperer was born in Breslau, Silesia Province, then in Germany , as a son of Nathan Klemperer, a native of Prague, Bohemia . Klemperer studied music first at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt, and later at the Stern Conservatory in Berlin under James Kwast and Hans Pfitzner. He followed Kwast to three institutions and credited him with the whole basis of his musical development. In 1905 he met Gustav Mahler while conducting the offstage brass at a performance of Mahlers Symphony No. 2, Resurrection. He also made a piano reduction of the second symphony. The two men became friends, and Klemperer became conductor at the German Opera in Prague in 1907 on Mahlers recommendation. Mahler wrote a short testimonial, recommending Klemperer, on a small card which Klemperer kept for the rest of his life. Later, in 1910, Klemperer assisted Mahler in the premiere of his Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand.

Source: Wikipedia