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Does conducting have a performative quality? Is it a theatrical act, a dance at the podium, that possesses aesthetic value in itself and cannot be reduced to the mere function of signaling for the orchestra? Is it also about making the invisible tones and sequences visible through gestures, literally giving them a body? And what is the relationship between these gestures and the interpretation that emerges as an audible result? These and other questions form the focus of this volume, which addresses the phenomenon of conducting as well as the figure of the conductor from the Middle Ages to the present day. It gathers historical, systematically empirical, and cultural studies contributions at the intersection of various disciplines, united under the idea that the silent air sorter not only acts as a director of musical processes but also, in a certain way, as their performer. The titular images of conductors imply a dual perspective. On one side are the images evoked by the conductor themselves: What kinetic visualizations of music are associated with their gestural implementation in conducting, and how is the relationship between the conductor's body and the orchestra's sound body shaped? On the other side, the images—images—stored in cultural memory from the traditional figure of the maestro are also relevant: What functions have been attributed to the conductor, how have perceptions and clichés about them changed over time, and what influence have the evolving forms of media representation, from caricature to film, exerted?.