Kurt Dietmar Richter (24 September 1931 − 15 January 2019) was a German

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

and

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Biology and medicine * Bone conduction, the conduction of sound to the inner ear * Conduction aphasia, a language disorder Mathematics * Conductor (ring theory) * Conductor of an abelian variety * Cond ...

Life

Richter was born on September 24, 1931, in

Plzeň Plzeň (), also known in English and German as Pilsen (), is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 188,000 inhabitants. It is located about west of P ...

(Czechoslovakia). His father was Gymnasium professor. At the urging of his mother he attended a music school, where he was appointed assistant

concertmaster The concertmaster (from the German language, German ''Konzertmeister''), first chair (U.S.) or leader (UK) is the principal first violin player in an orchestra (clarinet or oboe in a concert band). After the Conducting, conductor, the concertma ...

at the age of twelve. After the war his family moved from

Sudetenland The Sudetenland ( , ; Czech and ) is a German name for the northern, southern, and western areas of former Czechoslovakia which were inhabited primarily by Sudeten Germans. These German speakers had predominated in the border districts of Bohe ...

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...

.André Bochow: ''Neue Musik, alte Verhältnisse'' in the ''

Märkische Oderzeitung The ''Märkische Oderzeitung'' (abbreviated: ''MOZ'') is a German regional newspaper published in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany. The circulation area of the MOZ is largely identical to the former Bezirk Frankfurt, a region with around 600,000 inhabi ...

'' dated 23/24 June 2018,

Musical career

Richter was a member of the Thuringian Boys Choir in his childhood. From 1946 to 1949 he attended the

Landesschule Pforta Schulpforta, otherwise known as Pforta, is a school located in Pforta monastery, a former Cistercian monastery (1137–1540). The school is located near Naumburg on the Saale River in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. The site has been a school ...

. He studied with

Dieter Zechlin Dieter Zechlin (30 October 1926 – 16 March 2012) was a German pianist. He was one of East Germany's most prominent pianists throughout the 1950-80s. In 1959 he received the Art Prize of the GDR and in 1961 the National Prize of the GDR. Ze ...

and

Franz Jung Franz Josef Johannes Konrad Jung (26 November 1888 – 21 January 1963) was a writer, economist and political activist in Germany. He also wrote under the names Franz Larsz and Frank Ryberg. He grew up in Neisse (now Nysa) and was a childhood frie ...

at the Thuringian State Conservatory in Erfurt. Inspired by his Erfurt music teacher, he was fascinated among others by

Paul Hindemith Paul Hindemith ( ; ; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German and American composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advo ...

and the New Music. Later he was a master student with at the

Academy of Arts, Berlin The Academy of Arts () is a state arts institution in Berlin, Germany. The task of the Academy is to promote art, as well as to advise and support the states of Germany. The academy's predecessor organization was founded in 1696 by Elector F ...

. He then worked as conductor at the municipal

Döbeln Döbeln (; , ) is a town in Saxony, Germany, part of the Mittelsachsen district. It sits on the banks of the Freiberger Mulde, Freiberger Mulde river. Location and geography Döbeln is situated in the Central Saxon Hills, Central Saxon Hill co ...

and

Theater Erfurt The Theater Erfurt is a German municipal theatre located in Erfurt, the capital of Thuringia. The main stage is in a building in the Brühlervorstadt, completed in 2003. The theatre offers musical theatre and concerts, played by the Philharmonisc ...

, at the Greifswald Theatre and at the . In 1990 he founded the Berlin artist initiative ''die neue brücke''. His works have been performed among others at the

Schauspielhaus Berlin The Konzerthaus Berlin is a concert hall in Berlin, the home of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. Situated on the Gendarmenmarkt square in the central Mitte district of the city, it was originally built as a theater. It initially operated from 181 ...

, the Theater Greifswald and the

Konzerthaus Berlin The Konzerthaus Berlin is a concert hall in Berlin, the home of the Konzerthausorchester Berlin. Situated on the Gendarmenmarkt square in the central Mitte district of the city, it was originally built as a theater. It initially operated from 1 ...

. Richter died in Berlin at the age of 87.

Awards

* 1948: ''a-cappella'' choir prize of the

* 1977: 4th Prize at the International TV Opera Competition Salzburg/UNESCO * 1980: Carl Maria von Weber Prize of the city of Dresden * 1982: Carl Maria von Weber Prize of the city of Dresden * 1984:

Hanns Eisler Prize The Hanns Eisler Prize was an East-German music award, named after the composer Hanns Eisler. It was awarded by Radio DDR – with advisory participation of the music section of the Akademie der Künste der DDR in Berlin (East) and the (VDK) � ...

* 1993: Paul Woitschach Prize * 1995: Württemberg Composition Prize * 1996: Saarlouis Composition Prize * 1999: Composition Prize of the * 2000: Spanish a-cappella choir prize * 2001: Composition Prize of the * 2003: Composition Prize of the State of Brandenburg * 2004: Friedrich Silcher Composition Prize Württemberg * 2005: Prize at the composition competition of the

Humanistischer Verband Deutschlands The Humanistischer Verband Deutschlands (HVD; English: Humanist Association of Germany) is an organisation to promote and spread a secular humanist worldview and an advocate for the rights of nonreligious people. It was founded 1993 in Berlin and c ...

Compositions

* 1962 Jugendoper ''Der fahrende Schüler'' * 1964 Opera ''Pazifik'' * 1970 ''Sekundenoper'' * 1977 TV-Opera ''Bewährung über den Wolken'' (

Deutscher Fernsehfunk Deutscher Fernsehfunk (DFF; German for "German Television Broadcasting") was the state television broadcaster in the German Democratic Republic (GDR or East Germany) from 1952 to 1991. DFF produced free-to-air terrestrial television programmin ...

) * 1978 Opera ''Der verlegene Magistrat'' * 1982 Opera ''Die Geschichte von Liebe und Salz'' * 1984 Mini-Opera ''Marx spielte gern Schach'' * 1985 Opera ''Adam und Eva''

Radio play music

* 1990:

Lev Lunts Lev Natanovich Lunts (; May 2, 1901 – May 10, 1924) was a Russian playwright, proser and critic. He was a founding member of the Serapion Brothers (1921–1929), a group of young writers who emerged from the literary studio at the House of Arts ...

: ''Die Stadt der Gerechtigkeit'' – Director:

Peter Groeger Peter Groeger (1 June 1933 in Gröbzig, Free State of Anhalt – 16 January 2018 in Berlin) was a German actor and director. Life Groeger grew up in Gröbzig. He was assistant director at Wolfgang Langhoff at the Deutsches Theater. After ...

(Hörspiel – Funkhaus Berlin)

References

External links

*
Website of Kurt Dietmar Richter

Kurt Dietmar Richter
at

at

Verlag Dohr Verlag Dohr is a publishing house for music in Bergheim, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded in 1990 by Christoph Dohr in , which moved to in 1992 and to in Bergheim in 2010. It publishes a quarterly magazine of music, ''fermate'', sh ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Richter, Kurt Dietmar German conductors (music) 20th-century German classical composers 1931 births 2019 deaths Musicians from Plzeň German Bohemian people