The charismatic, eccentric and enigmatic conductor Carlos Kleiber became a legend during his lifetime. Although loved, even adored by musicians and the public, once established as a leading conductor, he refused to accept a permanent position because he disliked any form of routine and even turned down the Berlin Philharmonic"s invitation (as first choice) to become Herbert von Karajan"s successor. Kleiber was publicity shy, reclusive, kind-hearted and preferred family-life to the limelight. Later in his career, he deliberately limited himself to conducting his favorite operas and symphonies.

Carlos Kleiber was born on July 3, 1930, in Berlin, where his father Erich Kleiber (Vienna 1890 - Zurich 1956) was Musical Director (Generalmusikdirektor) at Berliner Staatsoper from 1923 to 1934 where he conducted the premier of Alban Berg"s opera Wozzeck in 1925. As a protest against the Nazi regime, Erich Kleiber resigned his post in 1935 and the non-Jewish family emigrated to Argentina where Erich Kleiber worked at the Teatro Colуn in Buenos Aires from 1936 to 1949.

In South America, Carlos Kleiber learned to play the piano and timpani. He also began to sing and compose. There are rumors that his father tried to thwart his musical career, yet later Carlos used his father"s annotated scores. After World War Two Carlos studied chemistry in Zurich, Switzerland in 1949. Already one year later, he returned to Buenos Aires. In 1952, he began his conducting career at the theatre in La Plata. Among his early mentors were famous conductors such as Fritz Busch, Bruno Walter and Arturo Toscanini, with whom he shares the approach of utter loyalty to a work.

In 1953, Carlos Kleiber returned to Europe and took up the post of rйpйtiteur at the Gдrtnerplatz Theater in Munich. The following year, Carlos" passion for music led to his debut as a conductor in Potsdam, East Germany where he conducted an operetta under the pseudonym of Karl Keller.

After a brief interlude at the Volksoper in Vienna, Carlos Kleiber served as rйpйtiteur at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Dьsseldorf from 1956 to 1958, where subsequently he became conductor. From 1964 to 1966, he conducted the Zurich Opera and, from 1966 to 1968, he served as Kapellmeister at the Wьrttembergisches Staatstheater in Stuttgart. This was his last firm engagement.

Carlos Kleiber disliked the daily routine, contracts and social conventions and disapproved the commercial side of the music business. He never had an agent but negotiated all concert and record contracts himself. He refused to give interviews pretending that he could not find the right words to express himself.

From 1968 to 1978, he worked as guest conductor with the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich. Occasionally, he conducted in Stuttgart. His debut in Great Britain came in 1966 when he conducted Berg"s Wozzeck at the Edinburgh Festival. His debuts at the Wiener Staatsoper and in Bayreuth came in 1973 and 1974, in both cases conducting Richard Wagner"s Tristan and Isolde. Incidentally, he conducted Wagner"s Tristan in Bayreuth for three consecutive years until 1976.

In 1974, he gave his debut at Covent Garden in London and at La Scala in Milan, conducting Richard Strauss" Der Rosenkavalier, one of his father"s specialties. His debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra followed in 1979, with the Berlin Philharmonic in 1982 and with the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1983.

A perfectionist, Carlos Kleiber disliked recordings. However, in 1973, he began to collaborate with Deutsche Grammophon and agreed to record Carl Maria von Weber"s Freischьtz with the Staatskapelle Dresden, an orchestra with whom his father had closely worked together. It was greeted with praise. In 1975, he recorded Beethoven"s Fifth Symphony in Vienna. The album was acclaimed by critics to the point that one reviewer wrote that "it was as if Homer had come back to recite the Iliad".

Carlos Kleiber stormed from one success to the next: In 1976, he recorded Beethoven"s Seventh in Vienna and Johann Strauss"s Fledermaus in Munich, in 1977 followed Verdi"s La Traviata in Munich, in 1979 Schubert"s Third and Unfinished in Vienna, 1981 Brahms"s Fourth in Vienna, in 1982 Richard Wagner"s Tristan and Isolde in Dresden. Kleiber"s records are rare, but all of them are milestones.

Carlos Kleiber married a ballet dancer from Slovenia who worked in Dьsseldorf. Therefore, Kleiber, who was fluent in six languages, learned Slovenian and lived in his wife"s homeland, where, on July 13, 2004 he died at the age of 74 from a severe illness.