- A "Young People's Concerts" program that Leonard Bernstein dedicated to his conducting teachers was temporarily interrupted to announce that Reiner had died during the taping of the program.
- Reiner commissioned "Porgy and Bess: A Symphonic Picture," an arrangement by Robert Russell Bennett of music from George Gershwin's opera.
- Reiner conducted the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra from 1938 to 1948.
- Reiner first came to the United States in 1922. From 1922 to 1931 he was conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.
- Reiner was conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1953 until 1962. He was the first conductor to make stereo recordings with that orchestra.
- Leonard Bernstein was one of Reiner's students in his conducting classes.
- Reiner became a U.S. citizen in 1928.
- From 1948 until 1953, he conducted performances at the Metropolitan Opera.
- He began teaching conducting classes at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, in 1932.
- Was one of the most notoriously tough taskmasters among the great conductors, a perfectionist who demanded no less of his musicians than he did of himself. When one young musician told Reiner that it would be a pleasure playing under him, Reiner curtly replied, "I will be the judge of that."
- A massive heart attack suffered at the beginning of the 1959-1960 Chicago Symphony Orchestra season forced Reiner to cancel nearly all of his performances with the orchestra during that period. When he ultimately returned to the podium, he was noticably thinner and weaker and had to conduct from a sitting position. He was never really a well man afterwards, and stepped down as Music Director at the end of the 1962-1963 season, succeeded by Jean Martinon.
- Was scheduled to conduct a series of performance of Wagner's "Gotterdammarung" at the Metropolitan Opera during the 1963-1964 season but died of a second heart attack just as rehearsals were about to begin. The performances were ultimately led by Josef Rosenstock.
- In his book, "The Great Conductors", music critic Harold C. Schonberg notes that whenever Reiner was displeased with an orchestra member's performance, he would make that member stand up and play solo.
- Was a good friend of legendary conductor Arturo Toscanini.
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