Vienna State Opera
The opera house was the first major building on the Vienna Ringstrasse commissioned by the Viennese "city expansion fund". Work commenced on the house in 1861 and was completed in 1869, following plans drawn up by architects August Sicard von Sicardsburg and Eduard van der Nüll. It was built in the Neo-Renaissance style by the renowned Czech architect and contractor Josef Hlávka.
Berislav Klobučar
Berislav Klobučar (28 August 192413 June 2014) was a Croatian opera conductor. He conducted the Vienna State Opera for more than four decades, and guest conductor at the Bayreuth Festival.
Born in Zagreb on 28 August 1924, Klobučar was a student of conductor Lovro von Matačić. He started his career with the Zagreb Philharmonic Orchestra. He conducted the Graz Opera in Austria, the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, Sweden, La Scala in Milan, Italy, the Orchestre philharmonique de Nice and the Opéra de Nice in France, and guest conductor at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, United States. During his forty-year tenure at the Vienna State Opera that began in 1952, he conducted 53 operas in 1,133 performances.