Austrian Orchestra Conductor. Karl Böhm was born in Graz in the current state of Steiermark, Austria. He studied law and eventually studied music theory with Eusebius Mandyczewsky, the scion of Brahms, at the Conservatory of Vienna. After service in the Austrian Army during the First World War, he was appointed conductor at the Municipal Theater in Graz. He eventually completed his law studies and received his J.D. After Graz he was engaged at the State Opera of Munich in 1921. Soon thereafter he was appointed Generalmusikdirektor in Darmstadt where he already showed a mastery of many works by Mozart, Richard Strauss, and Wagner. He also began exploring modern works such as those by Krenek and Hindemith. It was in Munich where he met his wife, the soprano Thea Linhard-Böhm. Böhm conducted a performance of Alban Berg's "Wozzeck" in 1931 which garnered him warm praise from the composer. After holding a post at the Hamburg Opera, he began a wartime appointment at the Dresden State Opera where he gave the premieres of Richard Strauss' operas "Die schweigsame Frau" and "Daphne", the latter of which Strauss dedicated to him. Thus began a close friendship with the composer whom Böhm is forever linked as a master interpreter. During the last two years of the Second World War, Böhm was principal conductor of the Vienna State Opera and conducted the 80th Birthday Celebration Concert in honor of Richard Strauss with the Vienna Philharmonic. After the war in 1955, Böhm conducted a new production of Beethoven's "Fidelio" for the reopening of the rebuilt Vienna State Opera. Soon thereafter he made his North American debut conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on February 9, 1956, and began a long relationship with the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. Late in life he began a fruitful relationship with the London Symphony Orchestra and, after several tours with them to the Salzburg Festival, was elected president of the orchestra in 1977. His final project, during which he suffered a stroke, was a film and recording of Strauss' "Elektra" for Decca. He died in his beloved Salzburg aged 86 during the Salzburg Festival. Böhm left behind a rich recorded legacy. His interpretations of the operatic, symphonic, and chamber works of Mozart and the symphonic and operatic works of his mentor, Richard Strauss, are considered authoritative even in this day of period instrument performances. His live recordings of Wagner's "Der Ring des Nibelungen" and "Tristan und Isolde" from Bayreuth Festivals in the late 1960s are also famous and highly regarded.