Josef Krips

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Josef Alois Krips (born April 8, 1902 in Vienna, died October 13 1974 in Geneva) was an Austrian conductor and violinist.

Krips was a pupil of Eusebius Mandyczewski and Felix Weingartner. In 1921 he became Weingartner's assistant at Vienna Volksoper and chorus master. Afterwards he became conductor of several different orchestras. In 1933 he returned to Vienna as a resident conductor of the Volksoper. He also became a professor at the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts in 1935.

After the Anschluss of 1938 he was forced to leave Austria. Krips moved to Belgrade , where he worked for a time with the local symphony orchestra, until Yugoslavia also became involved in World War II. For the remainder of the war he worked in a food factory.

Upon his return to Austria at the end of the war in 1945 Krips was one of the few conductors who were allowed to work, since he had not worked under the Nazi regime. He was the first conductor to lead the Vienna Philharmonic and the Salzburg Festival in the post-war period.

From 1950 to 1954 Krips was principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. Afterwards he led the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra. He made his Covent Garden debut in 1963 and his Metropolitan Opera in 1966, becoming a frequent guest conductor from then on. In 1970, he became conductor of the Deutsche Oper in Berlin. Between 1970 and 1973, he was the principal conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

In 1960, Krips recorded Beethoven's nine symphonies for Everest Records. For this set of recordings, Krips conducted the London Symphony Orchestra, and - for Beethoven's 9th symphony - the soloists included Donald Bell, baritone, Jennifer Vyvyan, soprano, Rudolf Petrak, tenor, and Shirley Carter (later known as Shirley Verrett), mezzo soprano. The BBC Chorus, under the chorusmaster Leslie Woodgate also performed in this recording of the 9th symphony. This series of recordings was popular with music critics and the public, and the recordings have been reissued several times in authorized and in bootleg editions.

He died in 1974.

Preceded by: Hamilton Harty	Principal Conductor, London Symphony Orchestra 1950–1954	Succeeded by: Pierre Monteux
Preceded by: Enrique Jordá	Music Director, San Francisco Symphony 1963–1970	Succeeded by: Seiji Ozawa
Preceded by: Wolfgang Sawallisch	Principal Conductor, Vienna Symphony Orchestra 1970–1973	Succeeded by: Carlo Maria Giulini