Karl Leister is a classical clarinet player from Wilhelmshaven, Germany. At a very young age, he learned to play the clarinet from his father, also a clarinetist, and later studied at the Hochschule fur Musik in Berlin. As a teenager, he was accepted into the Komische Oper Berlin under V�clav Neumann and Walter Felsenstein as clarinet soloist. In 1959, Leister joined the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Herbert von Karajan; this eminently productive musical association was to last for thirty years. During this time, he became internationally recognized as a major soloist and chamber musician. He was also one of the founding members of the "Bl�ser der Berliner Philharmoniker"/Berlin Soloists, which made a number of masterful recordings ? including Brahms's "Clarinet Quintet in B Minor, Opus 115". Additionally, he co-founded the Ensemble Wien-Berlin. The creation of the Herbert von Karajan Academy of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra has permitted Leister to teach music to a whole new generation of musicians. Leister currently holds the position of Professor at the Academy of Music Hanns Eisler, Berlin. 

June 15th, 1937 in Wilhelmshaven (Age 87)