Christoph von Dohnányi (pronounced [ˈkʁɪstɔf fɔn ˈdɔxnaːnjiː]) (born September 8, 1929) is a German conductor of Hungarian ancestry. Dohnányi was born in Berlin, Germany to jurist Hans von Dohnányi and Christine Bonhoeffer. His uncle on his mother's side was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Lutheran pastor and theologian/ethicist. His grandfather was the pianist and composer Ernő Dohnányi, also known as Ernst von Dohnányi. His father, uncle and other family members participated in the German Resistance movement against Nazism, and were arrested and detained in several concentration camps before being executed in 1945, when Christoph was 15 years old.Dohnányi's older brother is Klaus von Dohnányi, a German politician and former mayor of Hamburg. After the war, Dohnányi studied law in Munich, but in 1948 he transferred to the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München to study composition, piano and conducting. At the opera in Munich, he was a stage extra, coached singers, and was a house pianist. He received the Richard Strauss Prize from the city of Munich, and then went to Florida State University to study with his grandfather. His first position as assistant was at the Frankfurt Opera, appointed by Georg Solti, where he also served as a ballet and opera coach. He was general musical director of the Lübeck Opera from 1957–1963, then Germany's youngest GMD. He also served as chief conductor of the Staatsorchester Kassel. He also served as chief conductor of the Westdeutsche Rundfunk Sinfonie Orchester. In 1968, he succeeded Solti as general music director and later 'director' at the Frankfurt opera and served in both capacities until 1977. He took the positions of intendant and chief conductor with the Hamburg Staatsoper in 1977, and relinquished those posts in 1984. As director of the Frankfurt Opera and with his team including Gerard Mortier (Director of Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels, Salzburg Festival, Opéra de Paris), Peter Mario Katona (Director of Casting at ROH Covent Garden) and Klaus Schultz, Dramaturg in Munich (Bayerische Staatsoper) and Berlin (Philharmonic Orchestra), then General Manager of the Stadttheater Aachen, Nationaltheater Mannheim, and Gärtnerplatztheater in Munich, the balance in programming of traditional opera performance and innovative Musiktheater, promoting the idea of Regietheater, established Frankfurt opera as a leading house at that time. He continued this concept in Hamburg. In 1994, Dohnányi became the principal guest conductor of the Philharmonia orchestra in London, UK, and in 1997 their Principal Conductor. In April 2007, Dohnányi was one of eight conductors of British orchestras to endorse the 10-year classical music outreach manifesto, "Building on Excellence: Orchestras for the 21st Century", to increase the presence of classical music in the UK, including giving free entry to all British schoolchildren to a classical music concert. In 2008, he stepped down from the Philharmonia principal conductorship and now holds the title with the orchestra of 'Honorary Conductor for Life'. Being retired from his music directorship at the Cleveland Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnányi has built an ongoing relationship as guest conductor with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in Boston as well as in Tanglewood and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra. He has been invited as guest conductor to Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Philhadelphia Orchestra. A regular collaboration has developed with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra since the 1990s. In 2004, Dohnányi returned to Hamburg, Germany where he maintained a residence for many years, to become chief conductor of the NDR Symphony Orchestra. He concluded his NDR tenure after the 2009-2010 season. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.