 The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra does not have any principal conductors, like the other orchestras. Every year an artist is selected or invited to conduct all the concerts for a particular season at Vienna's Musikverein and these conductors were called Abonnementdirigenten, which means Subscription Conductors and they have to conduct all the concerts even the Philharmonic's subscription at the Musikverein, such as Carl Otto Nicolai (1842–1848), Carl Eckert (1854–1857), Felix Otto Dessoff (1860–1875), Wilhelm Jahn (1882–1883), Hans Richter (1883–1898), Gustav Mahler (1898–1901), Joseph Hellmesberger, Jr. (1901–1903), Felix Weingartner (1908–1927), Wilhelm Furtwängler (1927–1930), Clemens Krauss (1929–1933).
Since 1933, a number of Guest Conductors have been part of Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, they are Bruno Walter, Fritz Busch, Arturo Toscanini, Richard Strauss, Josef Krips, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Hans Knappertsbusch, Sir John Barbirolli, Erich Kleiber, Karl Böhm, Herbert von Karajan, Rafael Kubelik, George Szell, Carl Schuricht, Carlos Kleiber, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Carlo Maria Giulini, Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Claudio Abbado, Simon Rattle, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Simon Rattle, Mstislav Rostropovitch, André Previn, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Vaclav Neumann, Riccardo Muti, Georges Prêtre, Valery Gergiev, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Pierre Boulez, John Eliot Gardiner, Roger Norrington, Marcello Viotti, Christian Thielemann, Franz Welser-Möst, Daniele Gatti, Gilbert Kaplan, Mariss Jansons, Simone Young.
In the year 1996, the first flautist of the Vienna Philharmonic said in a radio interview that, "From the beginning we have spoken of the special Viennese qualities, of the way music is made here. The way we make music here is not only a technical ability, but also something that has a lot to do with the soul. The soul does not let itself be separated from the cultural roots that we have here in central Europe. And it also doesn't allow itself to be separated from gender. So if one thinks that the world should function by quota regulations, then it is naturally irritating that we are a group of white skinned male musicians, that perform exclusively the music of white skinned male composers. It is a racist and sexist irritation. I believe one must put it that way. If one establishes superficial egalitarianism, one will lose something very significant. Therefore, I am convinced that it is worthwhile to accept this racist and sexist irritation, because something produced by a superficial understanding of human rights would not have the same standards."
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