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Barbara Bonney is one of her generation's most versatile singers, having achieved equal success with lied, oratorio, modern vocal music, and opera, and on top of all that having become a highly proficient cellist. Her smallish but well-projected voice is especially suited to Mozart, the lighter Richard Strauss operas, and all but the heaviest lieder, and she has been careful in her choice of repertoire; even in her fortiess, she can still call forth a fresh, girlish timbre when it is needed.

Her family was not a musical one, and it was only by chance that her parents discovered she had perfect pitch and a sense of music--when she was three, they noticed that she could perfectly imitate musical noises, such as the melody that one of the household clocks chimed. When she was older, she started piano, but found that she preferred the more songful tones of the cello. It was an interest in German that led to her singing career--as a college student at the University of New Hampshire she decided to spend a year studying at the University of Salzburg. She worked a wide variety of jobs to support herself, including cooking, selling produce at a vegetable stand, and copying music, and one day a friend suggested that she audition for the famed Mozarteum orchestra there. She hadn't brought her cello overseas with her, since the costs of shipping were prohibitive, so instead she prepared a song for her audition, and was offered a position as a lieder student. Spurred on by this success, she auditioned for the Darmstadt Opera (knowing only two arias out of the entire operatic repertoire), and was given the ingenue role of Anna in Nicolai's Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor (The Merry Wives of Windsor). During her years with the company, she learned over forty operatic roles.

In 1984, she made her Vienna State Opera debut as Sophie in Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier, a role which was to become one of her most famous. Another characteristic role, that of Pamina in Mozart's Die Zauberflõte, she first undertook in her 1985 La Scala debut. In 1987, she sang Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier at Monte Carlo, which brought her to the attention of conductor Carlos Kleiber. Lucia Popp, too, greatly admired her Sophie, and when Popp relinquished the role, moving on to the Marschallin, she declared that she was passing it on to Bonney, the Sophie of the next generation. Her Met debut was in 1988, as Naiad in Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos. During the 1990s, increasingly able to pick and choose what roles and repertoire she would sing, she began to reduce her operatic roles to a few of her special favorites, such as Pamina, Susanna (in Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro), and Ilia (in his Idomeneo), and adding a few new roles, such as Zdenka in Strauss's Arabella and Hanna Glawari (in Lehár's Die lustige Witwe [The Merry Widow]). Like Popp, she chose to drop the role of Sophie, leaving it for younger singers. This would allow her to spend more time singing lieder performances, and also to teach.

She was briefly married to baritone Hakan Hagegard. Among her recordings, her Mozart arias (London 460 571) and Schubert lieder (Teldec 90873) capture her voice and singing quite well. ~ Ann Feeney

Andreas Schmidt is one of Germany's best-known veteran low voice singers on the operatic and concert stages. He began his singing career while still a young boy as a member of the Dresden Kreuzchor. In 1965 he began studies at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music in Dresden, specializing in opera singing and vocal pedagogy.

His stage debut was as Georg in Marschner's Der Waffenschmied at the Gerhart-Hauptmann Theater in Görlitz, following which he was contracted as a member of its company. He worked his way up as member of the Hans-Otto-Theater of Potsdam and the Volkstheater Rostock companies. In 1980 he became a member of the company of Deutsche Staatsoper Berlin.

He has sung such roles as Oberon, Monostatos, and Pedrillo (Entführung aus dem Serail), and in Don Carlos, Pique Dame, Wozzeck, and Salome. He has often appeared in concerts and oratorios on television and radio. He has appeared on a large number of international record labels. His discography includes a large number of Bach cantatas and the major Bach Passions and Masses. He has had particular distinction for his singing of songs and other vocal music of late Romantic composers Franz Schreker and Franz Schmidt, and operas by Wagner, Strauss, Humperdinck, and Mozart, as well as songs by Franz Schubert and Robert Schumann.

Since its inception in 1842, the Wiener Philharmoniker (or Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra in English) has represented the best in the Central European orchestral tradition. Before the Wiener Philharmoniker was founded, there was no permanent, professional orchestra to be found outside the opera halls in the city of Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven. The Wiener Philharmoniker is one of the most traditional orchestras in the world today, with much-beloved traditions, like the annual New Year's concerts of waltzes by the Strauss family.

In 1833, Franz Lachner, conductor at the Hofoper, had formed a musicians' association from the ranks of the opera orchestras to play symphonic music, but this was a temporary endeavor. Nine years later, a group of music critics and other interested parties persuaded Otto Nicolai, principal conductor of the Kärntertortheater, to conduct the first Wiener Philharmoniker concert at the Grosser Redoutensaal (Great Ballroom) on March 28, 1842. The group was founded as the first completely self-governing orchestra, and it has remained so ever since. Although concerts were irregular until 1860, the orchestra quickly built up a reputation. From 1860 to 1875, Otto Dessoff was the permanent conductor, bringing the music of Brahms, Wagner, and Liszt into the concert halls. Hans Richter succeeded Dessoff and conducted the orchestra until 1898, introducing Bruckner and Dvorák to Viennese audiences. Both of these conductors played major roles in establishing the Wiener Philharmoniker as one of the finest orchestras in the world. During this time, the Wiener Philharmoniker had numerous premieres of now-classic works such as Brahms' Second Symphony and Bruckner's Eighth; sometimes, as in the case of Bruckner's Third, the premiere was conducted by the composer himself. The great Gustav Mahler conducted from 1898 to 1901, but his tenure was marked by dissension within the orchestra.

The longest-term conductor of the post-Mahler era was Felix Weingartner, from 1908 to 1927. He was beloved by the orchestra for his measured, classical style and, in particular, for his Beethoven interpretations. From 1933 to 1938, the revered conductors Bruno Walter and Wilhelm Furtwängler shared the subscription concerts; after Hitler's annexation of Austria in 1938, the Nazi Party dissolved the orchestra, but the decision was reversed after Furtwängler intervened. The Wiener Philharmoniker led an uneasy life during the war but afterward reclaimed its place in the world's orchestral pantheon. The list of conductors who have led Wiener Philharmoniker subscription concerts reads like an honor roll of maestros; Richard Strauss, Arturo Toscanini, Herbert von Karajan, and Leonard Bernstein have each taken turns at the podium.

The Wiener Philharmoniker has held an annual New Year's Day Concert of Strauss family works, particularly those of Johann II, since 1941 when Clemens Krauss began the tradition; the first of these concerts was actually held on New Year's Eve in 1939, after which the concert has occurred on New Year's Day. Riccardo Muti led the orchestra in its 80th New Year's concert in 2021, marking his sixth appearance in the series. While some of its traditions are revered, others have come under fire in recent years. Though the Wiener Philharmoniker premiered a lot of music in its early days, it now prefers to play mostly music written before 1900, which created a controversy at the Salzburg Festival during the 1990s. The orchestra also refused until 1997 to accept a female musician as a full member, threatening to disband rather than cave in to political pressure. The first woman member of the Wiener Philharmoniker was harpist Anna Lelkes, who was granted full membership after 26 years of service. Simone Young was the first woman to conduct the Wiener Philharmoniker in 2005, and in 2008, Albena Danailova became the orchestra's first female concertmaster. Historically, the Wiener Philharmoniker has opposed hiring musicians who are not Central European in order to preserve what is perceived as a unique quality of sound. While the orchestra's policies may be controversial, it cannot be disputed that the Wiener Philharmoniker is one of the world's finest orchestras, performing with exceptional finesse and clarity, with a beautifully blended woodwind and brass sound that meshes perfectly with its subtle, lush strings.

The Wiener Philharmoniker is celebrated on 24-carat gold bullion coins issued by the Austrian Mint. In 2006, the design of the coinage was featured by Austrian Airlines on its airplanes to promote both the orchestra and the sale of the coins, which are among the most popular with investors. ~ Andrew Lindemann Malone

One of the 20th century's great conductors, Carlo Maria Giulini was known for his probing, self-effacing approach to orchestral and operatic scores. In addition to Italy, he was active for long periods of time in Britain and the U.S.

Giulini was born on May 9, 1914, in Barletta in southeastern Italy, but when he was small, the family moved to Bolzano. In the far north of what is now Italy, the city was part of the Austrian Empire at the time. It reverted to Italy at the end of World War I, but the area remained German-speaking for decades, and Giulini grew up hearing German and Austrian music. He began violin lessons at five, and at 16, he was admitted to the Conservatorio Santa Cecilia in Rome as a violist and conducting student. Giulini auditioned and won a place in the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, then known as the Orchestra dell'Augusteo. Two years later, he won a conducting competition, but all aspects of his musical career were temporarily sidelined when he was drafted into the Italian army. A pacifist and an opponent of Italian Fascist leader Benito Mussolini, Giulini was sent to the front in Croatia but avoided firing his gun at enemy soldiers. Later in the war, he went into hiding in a tunnel under his wife's uncle's house; Rome was festooned with wanted posters showing his pictures. After nine months in the tunnel, he emerged after Allied troops liberated Rome in June of 1944. In short order, he conducted the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Brahms' Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98. Giulini conducted several orchestras, including the RAI Orchestra in Rome (the Italian Radio Orchestra) and the Milan Radio Orchestra, the latter from 1946 until 1954. He led several productions at an opera house in Bergamo, and there, he programmed not only Italian opera standards but works from the Baroque and Classical periods that, at the time, were little known. This caught the attention of famed conductor Arturo Toscanini, who recommended Giulini to the La Scala Opera House. Giulini became assistant conductor there in 1952 and ascended to principal conductor the following year. Over five years at La Scala, he introduced works like Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle and Monteverdi's L'incoronazione di Poppea to the tradition-bound La Scala stage, and he worked with innovative young stage directors Franco Zeffirelli and Luchino Visconti. Giulini departed La Scala in outrage when a crowd booed the controversial soprano Maria Callas, and in subsequent positions at English opera houses, he came into conflict with management, although his conducting of Visconti's production of Verdi's Don Carlos in 1955 earned acclaim. Over the 1950s and '60s, Giulini's operatic appearances became rarer. His recording debut came in 1959 with the Philharmonia Orchestra in London, leading a concert version of Mozart's Le nozze di Figaro.

Fortunately, he had his growing career as an orchestra conductor to fall back on. In 1955, he made his U.S. debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and that turned out to be the beginning of a longstanding relationship. He became the orchestra's principal guest conductor in 1969, and beginning in the late '70s, he also recorded with the orchestra for the Deutsche Grammophon label. In 1978, he succeeded Zubin Mehta as director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and he recorded often with that group as well. He stepped down from that post in 1984 but continued to work and record with that orchestra and many others as a guest. As an orchestral conductor, Giulini had a repertory that was narrow but deep; he added new works only after studying them intensively. He was a superb conductor of the German Romantics from Beethoven to Bruckner. Giulini was extremely prolific as a recording artist in his later years; in 2005, the year of his death, 15 recordings appeared under his name. Giulini died in Brescia, Italy, on June 14, 2005. Numerous reissues continued to appear after his death, and by the early 2020s, his recording catalog comprised well over 300 items. ~ James Manheim