Greatest conductors and orchestras

selected by piero scaruffi
Send suggestions
A recommended discography | Detailed list of classics | A brief history of music | The essentials for beginners
A Guide to Modern Classical Music | Greatest composers of the 20th century | Back to the Music page
The Greatest Pianists | The Greatest Violin Players | Flutists, Cellists, etc

Conductors

  1. Wilhelm Furtwangler (Germany, 1886)
  2. Herbert von Karajan (Austria, 1908)
  3. Pierre Boulez (France, 1925)
  4. Willem Mengelberg (Holland, 1871)
  5. Leonard Bernstein (USA, 1918)
  6. Yuri Temirkanov (Russia, 1938)
  7. Carlos Kleiber (Austria, 1930)
  8. Claudio Abbado (Italy, 1933)
  9. Charles Dutoit (Switzerland, 1936)
  10. Zubin Mehta (India, 1936)
  11. Seiji Ozawa (Japan, 1935)
  12. Arturo Toscanini (Italy, 1867)
  13. Otto Klemperer (Germany, 1885)
  14. Yevgeni Mravinsky (Russia, 1903)
  15. Bruno Walter (Germany, 1876)
  16. Karl Boehm (Austria, 1894)
  17. Christian Thielemann (Germany, 1959)
  18. Rafael Kubelik (Czech, 1914)
  19. Bernard Haitink (Holland, 1929)
  20. Daniel Barenboim (Argentina, 1942)
  21. Georg Solti (Hungary, 1912)
  22. Valery Gergiev (Russia, 1953)
  23. John Gardiner (Britain, 1943)
  24. CarloMaria Giulini (Italy, 1914)
  25. Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Austria, 1929)
  26. Antal Dorati (Hungary, 1906)
  27. Esa-Pekka Salonen (Finland, 1958)
  28. Gustavo Dudamel (Venezuela, 1981)
  29. Eugene Ormandy (Hungary, 1899)
  30. Vladimir Ashkenazy (Russia, 1937)
  31. Masaaki Suzuki (Japan, 1954)
  32. Mikhail Pletnev (Russia, 1957)
  33. Ferenc Fricsay (Hungary, 1914)
  34. Neville Marriner (Britain, 1924)
  35. Kirill Kondrashin (Russia, 1914)
  36. Riccardo Muti (Italy, 1941)
  37. Gyorgy Szell (Hungary, 1897)
  38. Neeme Jarvi (Estonia, 1937)
  39. Evgeny Svetlanov (Russia, 1928)
  40. Leopold Stokowski (Britain, 1882)
  41. Lorin Maazel (USA, 1930)
  42. Fritz Reiner (Hungary, 1888)
  43. Colin Davis (Britain, 1927)
  44. Andre Previn (USA, 1929)
  45. Charles Mackerras (Australia, 1925)
  46. Serge Koussevitsky (Russia, 1874)
  47. Wolfgang Sawallisch (Germany, 1923)
  48. Dmitri Mitropoulos (USA, 1896)
  49. Eliahu Inbal (Israel, 1936)
  50. Ernest Ansermet (Switzerland, 1883)
  51. Karl Richter (Germany, 1926)
  52. Myung-whun Chung (Korea, 1953)
  53. Riccardo Chailly (Italy, 1953)
  54. Simon Rattle (Britain, 1955)
  55. Trevor Pinnock (Britain, 1946)
  56. Igor Markevitch (Russia, 1912)
  57. James Levine (USA, 1943)
  58. Jean Martinon (France, 1910)
  59. Kurt Masur (Germany, 1927)
  60. Myung-whun Chung (South Korea, 1953)
  61. Roger Norrington (Britain, 1934)
  62. Leonard Slatkin (USA, 1944)
  63. Kurt Sanderling (Germany, 1912)
  64. Leopold Ludwig (Germany, 1908)
  65. Mariss Jansons (Latvia, 1943)
  66. Sergiu Celibidache (Romania, 1912)
  67. Pierre Monteux (France, 1875)
  68. Peter Maag (Switzerland, 1919)
  69. Michael Tilson Thomas (USA, 1944)
  70. Paul Sacher (Switzerland, 1906)
  71. Richard Hickox (Britain, 1948)
  72. Takashi Asahina (Japan, 1908)
  73. Giuseppe Sinopoli (Italy, 1946)
  74. Eugen Jochum (Germany, 1902)
  75. Vaclav Talich (Czechoslovakia, 1883)
  76. Guenter Wand (Germany, 1912)
  77. Thomas Beecham (Britain, 1879)
  78. Adrian Boult (Britain, 1889)
  79. Paul Kletzki (Poland, 1900)
  80. Hermann Abendroth (Germany, 1883)
  81. Otmar Suitner (Austria, 1922)
  82. Carl Schuricht (Germany, 1880)
  83. Marin Alsop (USA, 1956)
  84. John Barbirolli (Britain, 1899)
  85. Herbert Blomstedt (Sweden, 1927)
  86. Manfred Honeck (Austria, 1958)
Too young to be judged yet:
  • Tony Pappano (Britain, 1959)
  • Waelser Moest (Austria, 1960)
  • Marko Lentonja (Slovenia, 1961)
  • Paavo Jarvi (Estonia, 1962)
  • Vladimir Jurovskij (Russia, 1972)
  • Alexander Melnikov (Russia, 1973)
  • Vasily Petrenko (Russia, 1976)
  • Andris Nelsons (Latvia, 1978)
  • Rudolf Kempe

Orchestras

  1. Wiener Philharmoniker
  2. Berliner Philharmoniker
  3. Concertgebouw
  4. London Symphony Orchestra
  5. Boston Symphony Orchestra
  6. New York Philharmonic
  7. Chicago Symphony Orchestra
  8. St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra
  9. Orchestre de Paris
  10. Staatskapelle Dresden
  11. Bavarian Radio Symphony
  12. BBC Symphony Orchestra
  13. Cleveland Orchestra
  14. Ceska Filharmonie
  15. Los Angeles Philharmonic
  16. Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra
  17. Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
  18. London Philharmonic Orchestre
  19. Moscow Radio and Television Symphony Orchestre
  20. Munchener Philharmoniker
  21. Orchestre National de France
  22. Philadelphia Orchestra
  23. Philharmonia
  24. San Francisco Symphony
  25. State Symphonique Orchestra of Russia