Conductor’s baton poised to strike and one fist raised vengefully in the air – this image is now part of the Karajan legend. “He could prolong a measure with a simple movement of the arm. His technique was breathtaking”, Christa Ludwig recalls. Ten years after the death of the Maestro, some of the great artists who worked with him tell about their experiences, the rehearsals, what it was like to work under him as an orchestra conductor, his abilities as a stage director and businessman, and his fascination with the latest technology.

Using archival material of rehearsals, classes for conductors and television interviews, there emerges the portrait of a modern individual with many sides to his nature, one of which is the forgotten detail that he was a member of Hitler’s National Socialist Party. Plattner will introduce the first screening and answer questions from the audience (at the 2000 festival).