Claudio Abbado

Italian conductor, world recognized since 1958, able to conduct the scores completely from memory. Permanent conductor and musical director of Teatro Alla Scala in Milan, he is also the principal guest conductor of the London Symphony and often a guest conductor of New York, Chicago, Cleveland and Philadelphia orchestras.

The son of a violinist and a pianist, he was raised under Nazi occupation of his country. He decided to conduct when he was eight. Dark, aristocratic, handsome, he had two marriages; two kids with the first.

He was named as successor to von Karajan of the Berlin Philharmonic in October 1988. He continued to direct the state opera in Vienna where he lived with Russian violinist Viktoria Mullova, 29. On 17 October 1991 he stepped down as musical director due to health reasons, agreeing to one more opera, "The Marriage of Figaro," in the 1993-94 season.

A prominent supporter of the Italian Communist Party, his projects are nonetheless supported by plutocratic industrialists who are fans. Dedicated to modernism, he also has notched up major successes in Rossini, Verdi and Bizet. Italian to the roots, he is Viennese by training, temperament and musical training.