Herbert von Karajan was an Austrian conductor born in Salzburg in 1908 who began his conducting career in the 1920s and became principally associated with orchestral and operatic classical music through long-term leadership of major European ensembles. His conducting style emphasised a polished orchestral sound and precise ensemble shaping, and he played a prominent role in the expansion of studio recording and televised classical performance, influencing repertoire programming and recording practice in the mid-20th century.