Orchestra Conductor. Leinsdorf was born in Vienna, where he began his musical training at the age of 5. He studied piano with Paul Emmerich at the Hochschule in Vienna. He followed up with advanced studies at the Mozarteum in Salzburg and then at the University of Vienna. In 1933, he made his conducting debut in Vienna at the Musikverein. In 1934 he auditioned for Bruno Walter and Arturo Toscanini and became their musical assistant at the Salzburg Festspiele. He left Vienna a year prior to the Anschluss in 1937 with a contract to conduct at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Leinsdorf made his debut in 1938 conducting "Die Walkure" and succeeded Artur Bodansky as the leading conductor of the German wing of the House. He became a U.S. citizen in 1942 and was appointed Music Director of the Cleveland Orchestra in 1943. He was drafted into the Army and left the position in Cleveland as a result. He was discharged a year later and spent an additional year at the Metropolitan Opera, before becoming a guest conductor. In 1947 he was handed the post of Music Director of the Rochester Philharmonic and stayed there until 1955, building the orchestra into a musically sound ensemble. In 1956 he was Music Director of the New York City Opera for part of the season until the Metropolitan Opera picked him up as their Musical Consultant. A part time job, he returned to Europe as a guest conductor. In 1962 he was made Music Director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, one of the plum conducting positions in the Country. He led the orchestra through the 1969 season. He annouced JFK's death on live radio during a concert with the BSO and changed the program then and there to add the funeral march from Beethoven's 3rd Symphony. After 1969 Leinsdorf, his reputation secure toured the World as a guest conductor. He also was a regular conductor at the New York Philharmonic during this time. From 1978 to 1980, he was principal conductor of the Berlin Radio Symphony. Leinsdorf also recorded prolifically and his recordings are still widely available. Later he wrote several books including a heavily opinionated autobiography. He died suddenly in Zurich in 1993.