Which of their peers and forebears are today's leading conductors inspired by? We put this question to 100 of today’s best, inviting them to name three each. Click here to find out who won the vote, or read on to see each conductor's individual votes.
Thomas Adès
Arturo Toscanini
Antal Dorati
John Eliot Gardiner
Rinaldo Alessandrini
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
John Eliot Gardiner
Claudio Abbado
Marin Alsop
Leonard Bernstein
Gustav Mahler
Mariss Jansons
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Herbert von Karajan
Claudio Abbado
Matthias Bamert
Georges Szell
Leopold Stokowski
Lorin Maazel
Harry Bicket
Ferenc Fricsay
Carlos Kleiber
Klaus Tennstedt
Fabio Biondi
Angelo Campori
John Eliot Gardiner
Claudio Abbado
Richard Bonynge
Carlos Kleiber
Tullio Serafin
Clemens Krauss
Douglas Boyd
Claudio Abbado
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Paavo Berglund
Martyn Brabbins
Claudio Abbado
Carlos Kleiber
Ilya Musin
Lionel Bringuier
Carlos Kleiber
Carlo Maria Giulini
Herbert von Karajan
Semyon Bychkov
Carlos Kleiber
Herbert von Karajan
Ilya Musin
Riccardo Chailly
Carlos Kleiber
Arturo Toscanini
Claudio Abbado
William Christie
Erich Leinsdorf
Leonard Bernstein
Simon Rattle
Harry Christophers
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Alan Wicks
Stephen Cleobury
John Barbirolli
Adrian Boult
Benjamin Britten
Francesco Corti
Lorin Maazel
Dimitri Mitropoulos
Carlos Kleiber
Thomas Dausgaard
Carlo Maria Giulini
Carlo Zecchi
Leonard Bernstein
Dennis Russell Davies
Bruno Maderna
Jean Morel
Stanislaw Skrowaczewski
Carl Davis
Rafael Kubelík
Arturo Toscanini
Osmo Vänskä
Sir Colin Davis
Adrian Boult
Rudolf Kempe
Carlos Kleiber
Stéphane Denève
Charles Munch
Carlos Kleiber
Carlo Maria Giulini
‘As apprentice conductor at the Paris Conservatoire in the early ’90s, I had the privilege to play Verdi’s Requiem at the piano for Carlo Maria Giulini during his rehearsals with soloists and chorus. I remember vividly his clear eyes, which seemed to have seen the most beautiful sunrises, and also his amazingly soft old-man hand-shake. Breathing music with him, I received the most important lesson I ever had: to believe in the miracle of sharing music together! In his apparently very simple gestures, there was not even an atom of doubt, he was fundamentally sure that everybody would give him the best they ever did.’ – Stéphane Denève
Gustavo Dudamel
Carlos Kleiber
Leonard Bernstein
Herbert von Karajan
Charles Dutoit
Ernest Ansermet
Herbert von Karajan
Charles Munch
Sir Mark Elder
Carlos Kleiber
Reginald Goodall
Pierre Boulez
Richard Farnes
Carlos Kleiber
Simon Rattle
Claudio Abbado
Iván Fischer
Leonard Bernstein
Otto Klemperer
Gustav Mahler
Thierry Fischer
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Claudio Abbado
Rumon Gamba
Colin Davis
Simon Rattle
Yevgeny Mravinsky
Sir John Eliot Gardiner
Pierre Monteux
Rudolf Kempe
Charles Mackerras
‘I owe Sir Charles Mackerras a huge debt. He was one of the very few conductors generous enough to treat his colleagues not as rivals, but as co-interpreters, with whom to impart and exchange personal findings, hints, tricks, or shared enthusiasms. Over the years he would often invite me to his home in St John’s Wood to discuss scores (Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Berlioz, Schumann, Dvorák, Martinu) or to give me a ‘driving lesson’ in whichever Janácek opera I was conducting at the time. A great guy who is only just beginning to get posthumous recognition.’ – Sir John Eliot Gardiner
Edward Gardner
Carlos Kleiber
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Thomas Beecham
Daniele Gatti
Otto Klemperer
Arturo Toscanini
No third choice made
Valery Gergiev
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Dimitri Mitropoulos
Leonard Bernstein
Jane Glover
Carlo Maria Giulini
Bernard Haitink
Simon Rattle
Roy Goodman
Arturo Toscanini
Charles Mackerras
Roger Norrington
Paul Goodwin
Roger Norrington
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Simon Rattle
Emmanuelle Haïm
Simon Rattle
Bernard Haitink
Leonard Bernstein
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Erich Kleiber
Ferenc Fricsay
George Szell
Charles Hazlewood
Arturo Toscanini
Leonard Bernstein
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Philippe Herreweghe
John Eliot Gardiner
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Claudio Abbado
Paul Hillier
Pierre Boulez
Daniel Barenboim
Kurt Masur
Manfred Honeck
Carlos Kleiber
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Riccardo Muti
Jakub Hrua
Leonard Bernstein
Claudio Abbado
Jirˇi Belohlávek
René Jacobs
Leonard Bernstein
Claudio Abbado
Simon Rattle
Mariss Jansons
Carlos Kleiber
Yevgeny Mravinsky
Herbert von Karajan
Kristjan Järvi
Leonard Bernstein
Carlos Kleiber
Neeme Järvi
Neeme Järvi
Hans Knappertsbusch
Hermann Scherchen
Paul Paray
Paavo Järvi
Neeme Järvi
Leonard Bernstein
Wilhelm Furtwängler
James Judd
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Carlos Kleiber
John Barbirolli
Vladimir Jurowski
Leonard Bernstein
Carlos Kleiber
Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Kirill Karabits
Kirill Kondrashin
Valery Gergiev
John Eliot Gardiner
Lothar Koenigs
Carlos Kleiber
Claudio Abbado
Pierre Boulez
Yakov Kreizberg
Leonard Bernstein
Herbert von Karajan
No third choice made
Christian Lindberg
Carlos Kleiber
Ferenc Fricsay
Claudio Abbado
Andrew Litton
Leonard Bernstein
Karl Böhm
Carlos Kleiber
‘Karl Böhm appeared often at the Met Opera when I was growing up in New York, and I heard my first Tristan, Fidelio, Rosenkavalier, Frau ohne Schatten and Otello under his baton. I grew to appreciate his clear-headed, logical approach, the drive and energy he brought, particularly to the music of his friend Richard Strauss, and his sense of line and arc. His stick technique at first blush seemed ambiguously eccentric until one realized that every upbeat was in precisely the intended tempo and indisputably clear.’– Andrew Litton
David Lloyd-Jones
Thomas Beecham
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Claudio Abbado
Susanna Mälkki
Carlos Kleiber
James Levine
Bernard Haitink
Andrew Manze
Claudio Abbado
Ferenc Fricsay
Leonard Bernstein
Jun Märkl
Sergiu Celibidache
Seiji Ozawa
Leonard Bernstein
Sir Neville Marriner
Pierre Monteux
Josef Krips
George Szell
Kurt Masur
Bruno Walter
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Yevgeny Mravinsky
Paul McCreesh
Bernard Haitink
Charles Mackerras
Karl Böhm
Nicholas McGegan
Roger Norrington
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Arturo Toscanini
Zubin Mehta
Arturo Toscanini
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Herbert von Karajan
Juanjo Mena
Sergiu Celibidache
Mariss Jansons
Carlos Kleiber
Marc Minkowski
Hermann Scherchen
Charles Bruck
Simon Rattle
Andris Nelsons
Carlos Kleiber
Mariss Jansons
Herbert von Karajan
Yannick Nézet-Séguin
Carlo Maria Giulini
Herbert von Karajan
Simon Rattle
Sir Roger Norrington
Carlo Maria Giulini
Carlos Kleiber
Colin Davis
Gianandrea Noseda
Ferenc Fricsay
Victor de Sabata
Dimitri Mitropoulos
Jonathan Nott
Carlos Kleiber
Pierre Boulez
Klaus Tennstedt
Tadaaki Otaka
Carl Adolf Schuricht
Joseph Keilberth
Lovro von MataΩic´
Antonio Pappano
Victor de Sabata
John Barbirolli
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Alondra de la Parra
Carlos Kleiber
Simon Rattle
Eduardo Mata
Vasily Petrenko
Jean-Baptiste Lully
Johann Strauss II
Louis Antoine Jullien
Peter Phillips
Simon Rattle
Thomas Beecham
David Wulstan
Helmuth Rilling
Leonard Bernstein
Ferdinand Leitner
No third choice made
David Robertson
Karl Böhm
Carlos Kleiber
Rafael Kubelík
Francois-Xavier Roth
Pierre Boulez
John Eliot Gardiner
Charles Munch
Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Willy Ferrero
Nathan Rachlin
Otto Klemperer
Donald Runnicles
Carlos Kleiber
James Levine
Gustav Mahler
Leif Segerstam
Carlos Kleiber
Georg Solti
Herbert von Karajan
José Serebrier
Leopold Stokowski
Pierre Monteux
Antal Dorati
Vassily Sinaisky
Bruno Walter
Yevgeny Mravinsky
Karel AnΩerl
Robert Spano
Seiji Ozawa
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Serge Koussevitzky
Markus Stenz
Leonard Bernstein
John Eliot Gardiner
Gustavo Dudamel
‘Leonard Bernstein made music accessible to so many young people, and I myself used to be besotted with his Harvard Lectures. They were fascinating and eye-opening for me as an aspiring musician. Then I later came full circle and had lessons with him at Tanglewood: what an inspiration! But for me, it also has to do with what he achieved with regards to Mahler. For him to bring about a formidable revival in this such important music is absolutely epic – that was the milestone that Bernstein was able to give us.’
John Storgårds
Carlos Kleiber
Leonard Bernstein
Paavo Berglund
Masaaki Suzuki
Karl Richter
Leonard Bernstein
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Yuri Temirkanov
Wilhelm Furtwängler
Carlos Kleiber
Herbert von Karajan
Robin Ticciati
Colin Davis
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Simon Rattle
Michael Tilson Thomas
Antal Dorati
Pierre Monteux
Pierre Boulez
Osmo Vänskä
Paavo Berglund
Leonard Bernstein
Pierre Boulez
Ilan Volkov
Willem Mengelberg
Carlos Kleiber
Bruno Maderna
Paul Watkins
Claudio Abbado
Carlos Kleiber
Günter Wand
John Wilson
John Barbirolli
George Szell
André Previn
Antoni Wit
Henryk Czyz
Herbert von Karajan
Leonard Bernstein
Thomas Zehetmair
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
David Zinman
Franz Brüggen
Xian Zhang
Carlos Kleiber
Arturo Toscanini
Yevgeny Svetlanov
David Zinman
Pierre Monteux
George Szell
John Barbirolli
Jaap van Zweden
Leonard Bernstein
Carlo Maria Giulini
Carlos Kleiber
This article first appeared in the April 2011 issue of BBC Music Magazine.