Austrian conductor, born April 5, 1908 in Salzburg, Austria-Hungary (now Austria) and died July 16, 1989 in Anif, Austria. Younger brother of Wolfgang von Karajan. He was married to Elmy Holgerloef (m. 1938, div. 1942), Anna Maria "Anita" Sauest (m. 1942, div. 1958), and Eliette von Karajan (m. 1958). Karajan and Eliette are the parents of Isabel Karajan and Arabel von Karajan.
His brilliant international career began in 1949 and led him to be one of the most eminent conductors of the twentieth century.
In 1955 he succeeded Wilhelm Furtwängler in the direction of the Berliner Philharmoniker; orchestra that has reached supreme degrees of perfectionism thanks to his tenacity and to his well-known meticulousness combined with a perfect knowledge of the orchestra and the possibilities of the instrumentalists.
