'Today music has become a language which is most expanded on earth... that is why we have to do everything to help... that is why I make films...'
Herbert von Karajan, world-famous conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, was born in Salzburg in 1908. He was a child prodigy and by 1939 was already established in Germany as a conductor of some standing at the opera houses of Ulm and Aachen.
In the 1950s he emerged with an international reputation as conductor of the Philharmonia Orchestra and a top recording star, and then as Artistic Director of the Vienna State Opera.
He has established his own Easter Festival of opera at Salzburg where he has produced Wagner's Ring, and he is currently producing a wide repertoire of music performances on film for television and the cinema.
In this programme he talks to John Culshaw, Head of BBC Television Music, about his life and work, his views on repertory opera, and the important relationships of music with mass media.