Argentine conductor of German birth. His parents settled in Buenos
Aires in 1935, and he began music lessons in 1950, making his début at
La Plata in 1952. When the family returned to Europe, his father, the
conductor
Erich Kleiber advised him against a musical career and he studied
chemistry, but he began his opera career at the Theater am
Gärtnerplatz, Munich, in 1953.