Conductor Isaac Karabtchevsky was called "one of the living icons of Brazil" by London's Guardian newspaper, and he has pursued major career activities in Europe as well. In Brazil, he has been involved with notably innovative classical music projects.

Karabtchevsky was born in São Paulo on December 27, 1934. He traveled to Germany to study music, taking conducting classes with, among others, Pierre Boulez. He began his career as the conductor of the ensemble Madrigal Renascentista in the city of Belo Horizonte. In 1969, he became the conductor of the Brazil Symphony Orchestra in Rio de Janeiro. He has also served as the artistic director of the city's Municipal Theater, possibly a role unique among orchestra conductors.

Beginning in the late 1980s, Karabtchevsky took on conductorships and artistic directorships in Europe as well, first at the Tonkünstlerorchester of Vienna from 1988 to 1994, then at Venice's Teatro La Fenice from 1995 to 2001, and finally, as the director of the Orchestre National des Pays de la Loire (2004-2010). He also appeared at the Salle Pleyel in Paris, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Musikverein in Vienna, the Royal Festival Hall in London, and the Washington Opera House, where he directed a critically acclaimed production of Mussorgsky's Boris Godunov in 1999.

Back in Brazil, Karabtchevsky was associated with unusual new enterprises in later life. He spearheaded the Aquarius project, a communications campaign dedicated to spreading awareness of classical music in Latin America. In 2004, he became the conductor of the Petrobras Symphony Orchestra, characterized (again perhaps uniquely in the classical world) by employee self-management. He has served as conductor of the Heliopolis Symphony Orchestra, an ensemble based in a São Paulo slum, and in 2015, he was the subject of a competition presentation by the São Paulo samba school Unidos de Vila. Among Karabtchevsky's recording activities has been a cycle of the symphonies of Villa-Lobos with the São Paulo Symphony Orchestra (the Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo), concluded in 2017, for which he also participated in the editorial reconstruction of the scores. In 2020, the 85-year-old Karabtchevsky released the first in a new series of the choros of Mozart Camargo Guarnieri on the Naxos label. Karabtchevsky has been named a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the government of France and has also been honored by the Austrian government for cultural services to that country. ~ James Manheim, Rovi