Reinhard Seehafer (born September 6, 1958) is a German

conductor Conductor or conduction may refer to: Music * Conductor (music), a person who leads a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra. * ''Conductor'' (album), an album by indie rock band The Comas * Conduction, a type of structured free improvisation ...

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, j ...

, composer of

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included se ...

and the founder and artistic director of the Festival Altmark Festspiele in Saxony Anhalt.

Biography

At the age of 5 years, Reinhard Seehafer received his first piano lessons. In addition, he composed little piano pieces, chamber music and songs. As a young musician, he was a prizewinner at the

Beethoven Piano Competition Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classica ...

and Improvisation Competition

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), state of Thuringia, Germany. It is located in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt in the west and Jena in the east, approximately southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg an ...

in Germany. In 1975, the

music director A music(al) director or director of music is the 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 band, the ...

Rolf Reuter Rolf Reuter (7 October 1926 – 10 September 2007) was a German conductor. Life Reuter was born as son of the composer Fritz Reuter in Leipzig. After studying music at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden he began his caree ...

recognized the talent of the young pianist and composer, and taught him in his conducting class at the Academy of Music and Drama "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy"

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

alongside

Georg Christoph Biller Georg Christoph Biller (20 September 1955 – 27 January 2022) was a German choral conductor. He conducted the Thomanerchor as the sixteenth Thomaskantor since Johann Sebastian Bach from 1992 to 2015. He was also a baritone, an academic teacher ...

( from 1992 to 2015), and

Claus Peter Flor Claus Peter Flor (born 16 March 1953, Leipzig) is a German conductor. Flor studied violin and clarinet at the Robert Schumann Conservatory in Zwickau. He continued his music studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Weimar and the HMT Felix ...

. From 1976 to 1982 Reinhard Seehafer studied with Rolf Reuter and

Kurt Masur Kurt Masur (18 July 1927 – 19 December 2015) was a German conductor. Called "one of the last old-style maestros", he directed many of the principal orchestras of his era. He had a long career as the Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orch ...

, and subsequently with

Otmar Suitner Otmar Suitner (German pronunciation: �ɔtmaʁ zuˈiːtnɐ 16 May 1922 – 8 January 2010) was an Austrian conductor who spent most of his professional career in East Germany. He was born in Innsbruck and died in Berlin. He was Principal Conduct ...

and

Leonard Bernstein Leonard Bernstein ( ; August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, pianist, music educator, author, and humanitarian. Considered to be one of the most important conductors of his time, he was the first America ...

. In 1982 he created a sensation with Giacomo Puccini's

Madame Butterfly ''Madama Butterfly'' (; ''Madame Butterfly'') is an opera in three acts (originally two) by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. It is based on the short story " Madame Butterfly" (1898) by John Lu ...

at the

Komische Oper Berlin The Komische Oper Berlin is a German opera company based in Berlin. The company produces opera, operetta and musicals. The opera house is located on Behrenstraße, just a few steps from Unter den Linden. Since 2004, the Komische Oper Berlin, a ...

, and was immediately engaged there. He worked with directors and choreographers such as

Harry Kupfer Harry Alfred Robert Kupfer (12 August 1935 – 30 December 2019) was a German opera director and academic. A long-time director at the Komische Oper Berlin, he worked at major opera houses and at festivals internationally. Trained by Walter Fels ...

Joachim Herz Joachim Herz (15 June 1924 – 18 October 2010) was a German Opera director and manager. He learned at the Komische Oper Berlin as an assistant to Walter Felsenstein. His major stations were the Leipzig Opera where he opened the new house with Wa ...

and Tom Schilling. In 1989 he became principal conductor and artistic director of the opera house of

Görlitz Görlitz (; pl, Zgorzelec, hsb, Zhorjelc, cz, Zhořelec, East Lusatian dialect: ''Gerlz'', ''Gerltz'', ''Gerltsch'') is a town in the German state of Saxony. It is located on the Lusatian Neisse River, and is the largest town in Upper Lusa ...

. In 1991, together with the director of the opera house Görlitz, Wolf-Dieter Ludwig (born 1928 in Legnica; died 2007 in Sanary sur Mer), Reinhard Seehafer co-founded the cross-cultural project EUROPERA where he was musical director and principal conductor until 1998. In the same year he founded the

Europa Philharmonie The Europa Philharmonie is a European symphony orchestra made up of musicians from European Union countries as well as musicians from all over the world who have made Europe their home. Since 2009, the orchestra has been based in Baden-Württember ...

, where he is principal conductor to this day. Furthermore, Reinhard Seehafer has performed at

Dresden Staatskapelle The Staatskapelle Dresden (known formally as the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden) is a German orchestra based in Dresden, the capital of Saxony. Founded in 1548 by Maurice, Elector of Saxony, it is one of the world's oldest and most highly re ...

and

Semper Opera The Semperoper () is the opera house of the Sächsische Staatsoper Dresden (Saxon State Opera) and the concert hall of the Staatskapelle Dresden (Saxon State Orchestra). It is also home to the Semperoper Ballett. The building is located on the ...

, at

Gewandhaus Orchestra The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Gewandhausorchester; also previously known in German as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) is a German symphony orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. The orchestra is named after the concert hall in which it is bas ...

and

Oper Leipzig The Leipzig Opera (in German: ) is an opera house and opera company located at the Augustusplatz and the Inner City Ring Road at its east side in Leipzig's district Mitte, Germany. History Performances of opera in Leipzig trace back to Sings ...

Staatskapelle Weimar The (DNT) is a German theatre and musical organisation based in Weimar. It is a twin institution, consisting of the theatrical (German National Theatre, now solely based in Weimar) and the symphony orchestra known as the . It has a total of s ...

, the German National Theater,

Dresden Philharmonic The Dresdner Philharmonie (Dresden Philharmonic) is a German symphony orchestra based in Dresden. Its principal concert venue is the ''Kulturpalast''. The orchestra also performs at the Kreuzkirche, the Hochschule für Musik Dresden, and the ...

, Arthur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra of Lodz, Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, National Orchestra of the Bolshoi Theater in Minsk, Orquesta Sinfonica Nacional de Bogota,

Konzerthausorchester Berlin The Konzerthausorchester Berlin is a German symphony orchestra based in Berlin. The orchestra is resident at the Konzerthaus Berlin, designed by the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel. The building was destroyed during World War II, and was rebui ...

Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra The Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra ( sr, Београдска филхармонија, Beogradska filharmonija) is an orchestra located in Belgrade, Serbia. It is regularly considered one of the finest in the country. History Unlike most Eur ...

Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra The Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra (Hebrew: התזמורת הסימפונית ירושלים, ''ha-Tizmoret ha-Simfonit Yerushalayim'') is a major orchestra of Israel. Since the 1980s, the JSO has been based in the Henry Crown Symphony Hall, part of ...

, Orchestra Sinfonica di Roma, Amazonas Filarmônica, Orchestra dell'Arena di Verona, Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana, Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia Moments Musicaux Taipei, Hermitage Orchestra St. Petersburg, Orquesta Sinfónica del Estado de México as well as in China, UAE, USA and Japan. In his compositional work, Reinhard Seehafer has dedicated himself to various genres and styles. In addition to chamber music and opera, large symphonic works hold a central position in its activities as a composer. In 2007, Reinhard Seehafer created a newly reconstructed version of Germany's first

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libre ...

, "Dafne" which was lost during the Thirty Years' War, on the basis of the original libretto by

Martin Opitz Martin Opitz von Boberfeld (23 December 1597 – 20 August 1639) was a German poet, regarded as the greatest of that nation during his lifetime. Biography Opitz was born in Bunzlau (Bolesławiec) in Lower Silesia, in the Principality of S ...

to music by

Heinrich Schütz Heinrich Schütz (; 6 November 1672) was a German early Baroque composer and organist, generally regarded as the most important German composer before Johann Sebastian Bach, as well as one of the most important composers of the 17th century. H ...

. Reinhard Seehafer has four children, 2 daughters, from his first marriage with harpist Cornelia Smaczny — and lives with his second wife, singer and chairman of the Society "Europa Philharmonie", Carmen Seehafer, who is ten years his junior, together with their son and daughter.

Compositions

* ''Trio für Klavier, Violine und Violoncello'' Six Variations sur un theme des trouveres (1999) * ''Parable'' (2002) * ''Die Wüste hat zwölf Ding'' (2002) * ''Concert for Cello and Orchestra'' (2003) * ''Sinfonie Nr.1'' (2003) * ''Oper „Hochzeit an der Elbe“ (2004) * ''Sinfonietta Dauna'' (2005) * ''Amadeus-Fantasy'' (2005) * ''Land of Enchantment'' (2006) * ''Dafne'' reconstructed version of Germany's first opera by

and

(2007) * ''BachTrium'' (2007) * ''Mondviole'' Poem für Viola, Bariton und Orchester (2007) * ''Leaving Saturn'' (2008) * ''Esther'' Bearbeitung der biblischen Oper von

Joseph Messner Joseph Messner (27 February 1893 – 23 February 1969) was an Austrian musician, composer and priest. Life Joseph Messner, brother of the social ethicist , was born in Schwaz/Tyrol as the son of a miner (in the ) and a tobacco worker. He rec ...

(2008) * ''Ludus quadruplus ad honorem

Henning Kagermann Henning Kagermann (born 12 July 1947) is a German physicist and businessman. He was the former chairman of the Executive Board and Chief Executive Officer of SAP. Early life and education Born in Braunschweig, Kagermann studied physics in Brau ...

'' Konzert für 2 Klaviere zu acht Händen und Orchester (2009) * ''Konzert für Violine, Tuba und Orchester'' (2009) * ''The Crucified Planet'' Oratorium (2010) * ''

Piano Quintet In classical music, a piano quintet is a work of chamber music written for piano and four other instruments, most commonly a string quartet (i.e., two violins, viola, and cello). The term also refers to the group of musicians that plays a pian ...

'' (2011)

References

* http://www.habama.co.il/Pages/Description.aspx?Subj=5&Area=1&ArticleId=14454 * https://web.archive.org/web/20110715112015/http://www.prades-festival-casals.com/uk/fpc-5100.php * https://web.archive.org/web/20100308075800/http://www.europaphilharmonie.com/deutsch/chefdirigent/ * http://www.verlag-neue-musik.de/verlag/authors.php?authors_id=443 * http://www.vivicatania.net/cat.php/cat-4/op-de/ide-5223/Europa_Philharmonie.html

* http://www.arena.it/en-US/PersonnelDetailen.html?idpersonnel=11087#.Upn6gNLuI_g * https://web.archive.org/web/20131203020642/http://www.sofiaphilharmonie.bg/en/page.php?c=25&d=307

External links

Reinhard Seehafer official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Seehafer, Reinhard 1958 births Living people 20th-century classical composers 21st-century classical composers German classical composers German male conductors (music) German male classical composers 20th-century German composers 21st-century German composers 20th-century German conductors (music) 21st-century German conductors (music) 20th-century German male musicians 21st-century German male musicians