Catherine Rückwardt (née Beckmann; born 7 April 1960) is a German pianist and conductor. She was

Generalmusikdirektor A music director, musical director or director of music is a person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert ...

in of the

Staatstheater Mainz The Staatstheater Mainz (Mainz State Theatre) is a theatre in Mainz, Germany, which is owned and operated by the state of Rhineland-Palatinate. Situated on the Gutenbergplatz, the complex comprises two theatres which are connected by an undergrou ...

from 2001 to 2011, and has worked freelance since that time.

Career

Born Catherine Beckmann in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, the daughter of the conductor and pianist Irvin Beckmann and the singer Judith Beckmann, Rückwardt studied violin at the

Musikhochschule Lübeck A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger in ...

from 1975. She studied piano from 1981 at the

Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg The Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg is one of the larger College or university school of music, universities of music in Germany. It was founded in 1950 as ''Staatliche Hochschule für Musik'' (Public college of music) on the base of t ...

, graduating in 1984. She further studied voice, accompaniment of

Lied In the Western classical music tradition, ( , ; , ; ) is a term for setting poetry to classical music. The term is used for any kind of song in contemporary German and Dutch, but among English and French speakers, is often used interchangea ...

er (''Liedbegleitung''), and conducting, with

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (; 28 May 1925 – 18 May 2012) was a German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music. One of the most famous Lieder (art song) performers of the post-war period, he is best known as a singer of Franz Schubert's ...

and

Hermann Prey Hermann Prey ( Berlin, 11 July 1929 – Krailling, 22 July 1998) was a German lyric baritone, who was equally at home in the Lied, operatic and concert repertoires. His American debut was in November 1952, with the Philadelphia Orchestra and ...

, among others. In 1995, she took a conducting class with

Helmuth Rilling Helmuth Rilling (born 29 May 1933) is a German choral conductor and an academic teacher. He is the founder of the Gächinger Kantorei (1954), the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart (1965), the Oregon Bach Festival (1970), the Internationale Bachakade ...

at the

Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart is a foundation in Stuttgart, founded by Helmuth Rilling in 1981 to foster international concerts and workshops, namely Musikfest Stuttgart, dedicated especially to the music of Johann Sebastian Bach in relati ...

. She worked at the

Theater Bremen Theater Bremen (Bremen Theatre) is a state theatre in Bremen, Germany, with four divisions for opera, straight theater, dance, and student programs. Its venues are located in a city block, connected in architecture and seating up to 1,426 spectato ...

from 1984, first as a repetiteur, making her debut as a conductor in 1985 with Carl Zeller's operetta ''

Der Vogelhändler ' (''The Bird Seller'') is an operetta in three acts by Carl Zeller with a libretto by Moritz West and Ludwig Held based on Victor Varin's and de Biéville's ' (1857). In 1891, Helen Tretbar translated the original German libretto into English an ...

''. From 1989, she was ''Studienleiterin'' and ''

Kapellmeister ( , , ), from German (chapel) and (master), literally "master of the chapel choir", designates the leader of an ensemble of musicians. Originally used to refer to somebody in charge of music in a chapel, the term has evolved considerably in i ...

in''. She was Kapellmeisterin at the

Oper Frankfurt The Oper Frankfurt (Frankfurt Opera) is a German opera company based in Frankfurt. Opera in Frankfurt am Main has a long tradition, with many world premieres such as Franz Schreker's ''Der ferne Klang'' in 1912, ''Fennimore and Gerda, Fennimore ...

from 1997 to 2001, when she became

in of the

. She was the first woman at the house in that position. She was one of only four women in a leading conducting position, of 76 opera houses in Germany. From 2006, she was also

Intendant An intendant (; ; ) was, and sometimes still is, a public official, especially in France, Spain, Portugal, and Latin America. The intendancy system was a centralizing administrative system developed in France. In the War of the Spanish Success ...

in of the

Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Mainz The Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Mainz (literally: Philharmonic State Orchestra of Mainz), is the resident orchestra of the Staatstheater Mainz. In addition to musical theatre and Tanztheater, youth symphony and chamber concerts are part of ...

. Her focus was the presentation of rarely performed operas and work with children and young people. She left the Mainz theatre in 2011 to work as a freelance conductor. The program for her last symphony concert was typical in combining rarely played works with well-known repertory: beginning with Schönberg's '' Begleitmusik zu einer Lichtspielszene'', followed by a violin concerto by

Nikolai Roslavets Nikolai Andreevich Roslavets (23 August 1944, also Mykola Andriiovych Roslavets) was a modernist composer active in the Russian Empire and later the Soviet Union. Roslavets was a convinced modernist and cosmopolitan thinker; his music was offic ...

, rediscovered in 1989, and finally the Fourth Symphony by Johannes Brahms. She recorded with the Mainz orchestra the First Symphony by

Hans Rott Johann Nepomuk Karl Maria Rott (1 August 1858 – 25 June 1884) was an Austrian composer and organist. His music is little-known today, though he received high praise in his time from Gustav Mahler and Anton Bruckner. He left a symphony and ' ...

and the musical Christmas play for children ''Nussknacker und Mausekönig''. She served as a member of the jury for the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Wettbewerb in Leipzig in the category viola.

Awards

Rückwardt was awarded the ZONTA-Kunstpreis and the Gutenberg-Büste of Mainz.

References

External links

* David Gutsche
Interview mit Catherine Rückwardt
sensor-magazin.de 31 January 2011

dirigentinnen.de
Catherine Rückwardt
acousence.de {{DEFAULTSORT:Ruckwardt, Catherine 1960 births Living people 20th-century German conductors (music) Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg alumni Lübeck Academy of Music alumni Musicians from Los Angeles American emigrants to West Germany American women conductors (music) 21st-century German conductors (music) German women conductors (music) American women pianists German women pianists Musicians from Hamburg