On the death of Christoph von Dohnányi

He was the grandson of the Hungarian composer Ernö von Dohnányi (with whom he also studied), the son of the resistance fighter Hans von Dohnányi, who was murdered by the National Socialists, and the nephew of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who was murdered by the National Socialists. 

He was initially a solo repetiteur, but was already the youngest German general music director in Lübeck at the age of 27. from 1963-1966 he was GMD in Kassel, in 1968 he became GMD and in 1972 director of the Frankfurt Opera and the Frankfurt Museum Orchestra, from 1977-1984 he was GMD and artistic director of the Hamburg State Opera and chief conductor of the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra, from 1984-2022 he was music director of the Cleveland Orchestra, in 1996 Dohnányi took over the position of principal conductor with the London Philharmonia Orchestra, in 1998 he became guest conductor of the Orchestre de Paris. 

In 2004 he returned to Hamburg, where he took over the direction of the NDR Symphony Orchestra until 2011. He has regularly conducted the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonics, the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra, among others.

He has enjoyed repeated success at the New York Met, London's Royal Opera House, the San Francisco Opera, the Lyric Opera Chicago and the Paris Opéra. He made his debut at the Vienna State Opera in 1972 with Salome (the title role was sung by his second wife Anja Silja at the time) and appeared here until 2001 in major works from the German repertoire. 

In 1975, he conducted the premieres of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Cerha's Baal, Die Zauberflöte, the world premiere of Kabale und Liebe, the premieres of Moses und Aron, Das Rheingold, Die Walküre and Götterdämmerung, among others. Dohnányi was the father of five children, including the actor Justus von Dohnányi.