Walter Fink (16 August 1930 – 13 April 2018) was a German entrepreneur and a

patron Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, art patronage refers to the support that princes, popes, and other wealthy and influential people ...

contemporary classical music Contemporary classical music is Western art music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st-century classical music, 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 Modernism (music), post-tonal music after the death of ...

. He is known for being a founding member, executive committee member and sponsor of the

Rheingau Musik Festival The (RMF) is an international summer music festival in Germany, founded in 1987. It is mostly for classical music, but includes other genres. Concerts take place at culturally important locations, such as Eberbach Abbey and Schloss Johannisberg, ...

, where he initiated a series of annual portraits of international composers of contemporary classical music.

Career

Fink was taught piano from the age of seven In Frankfurt he took organ lessons with

Helmut Walcha Arthur Emil Helmut Walcha (27 October 1907 – 11 August 1991) was a German Organ (music), organist, harpsichordist, music teacher and composer who specialized in the works of the Dutch and German Baroque music, Baroque masters. Blind since h ...

and learned conducting with Kurt Thomas. He joined the company of his father in

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

as a young man and expanded it. He was

Managing director A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

of the Firmengruppe Fink (FINK Schuhe + Sport GmbH) in

until his retirement in 2002. He founded a church choir at the Christuskirche in Wiesbaden and served there for 25 years as organist. In 1987 he was one of the founding members of the

, together with Michael Herrmann, Tatiana von Metternich-Winneburg, Claus Wisser, Michael Bolenius, Hans-Clemens Lucht and Ulrich Rosin. The advertising department of his company designed the logo for the festival. Fink was on the board of the Rheingau Musik Festival Förderverein, an association to support the festival, and was its president during the first years. He was a member the jury of the Rheingau Musik Preis, together with Rolf Beck (Artistic Director of the

Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival The Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival (SHMF) is a classical music festival held each summer throughout the state of Schleswig-Holstein in Northern Germany. History The festival was founded in 1986 by German concert pianist and conductor Justus Fr ...

), Leo-Karl Gerhartz (retired Music Programme Director of the state broadcaster

Hessischer Rundfunk (; "Hesse Broadcasting"), shortened to HR (; stylized as hr), is the German state of Hesse's public broadcasting corporation. Headquartered in Frankfurt, it is a member of the national consortium of German public broadcasting corporations, A ...

and Peter Hanser-Strecker (Board Chairperson of

Schott Music Schott Music () is one of the oldest German music publishers. It is also one of the largest music publishing houses in Europe, and is the second-oldest music publisher after Breitkopf & Härtel. The company headquarters of Schott Music were foun ...

). Fink received the Cross of the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (, or , BVO) is the highest state decoration, federal decoration of the Federal Republic of Germany. It may be awarded for any field of endeavor. It was created by the first List of president ...

in 2007. He was Grand Officier of the

Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs La Confrérie de la Chaîne des Rôtisseurs () is an international gastronomy, gastronomic society founded in Paris in 1950. It is one of the oldest gastronomic societies in the world. The organization is named after the French Royal Guild of Go ...

. On 19 October 2011 the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe granted him an honorary

Doctorate of Philosophy A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

Engagement for contemporary music

Fink's interest in contemporary music was instilled in 1947 by Hindemith's opera ''

Mathis der Maler ''Mathis der Maler'' (''Matthias the Painter'' is an opera by Paul Hindemith. The work's protagonist, Matthias Grünewald, was a historical figure who flourished during the Reformation, and whose art, in particular the Isenheim Altarpiece, inspi ...

''. He supported the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in

Darmstadt Darmstadt () is a city in the States of Germany, state of Hesse in Germany, located in the southern part of the Frankfurt Rhine Main Area, Rhine-Main-Area (Frankfurt Metropolitan Region). Darmstadt has around 160,000 inhabitants, making it the ...

. He was interested in premieres and a personal friend of composers;

Wolfgang Rihm Wolfgang Rihm (; 13 March 1952 – 27 July 2024) was a German composer of contemporary classical music and an academic teacher based in Karlsruhe. He was an influential post-war European composer, as "one of the most original and independent mus ...

served as his

best man A groomsman or usher is one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony. Usually, the groom selects close friends and relatives to serve as groomsmen, and it is considered an honor to be selected. From his groomsmen, the groom usuall ...

. Several composers dedicated music to him, such as

Volker David Kirchner Volker David Kirchner (25 June 1942 – 4 February 2020) was a German composer and violist. After studies of violin and composition at the Peter Cornelius Conservatory, the Hochschule für Musik Köln and the Hochschule für Musik Detmold, he ...

, his piano quartet with clarinet ''Exil'' in 1995 and

Toshio Hosokawa is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music. He studied in Germany but returned to Japan, finding a personal style inspired by classical Japanese music and culture. He has composed operas, the oratorio '' Voiceless Voice in Hiroshima' ...

, ''Temple Bells Voice'', from the last movement of his oratorio ''Voiceless Voice in Hiroshima'' in 2001. For the Rheingau Musik Festival, Fink initiated in 1990 an annual Komponistenporträt, the presentation of a living composer and his or her work. Fink was the personal contact to the composers and a sponsor of the concert series, presenting the composers and their music:

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde music, avant-garde composers in the latter half of the ...

Mauricio Kagel Mauricio Raúl Kagel (; 24 December 1931 – 18 September 2008) was an Argentine-German composer and academic teacher. Life and career Early life and education Mauricio Raúl Kagel was born on 24 December 1931 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, into an ...

, Kirchner,

Wilhelm Killmayer Wilhelm Killmayer (21 August 1927 – 20 August 2017) was a German composer of classical music, a conductor and an academic teacher of composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München from 1973 to 1992. He composed symphonies and so ...

, Rihm,

Dieter Schnebel Dieter Schnebel (14 March 1930 – 20 May 2018) was a German composer, theologian and musicologist. He composed orchestral music, chamber music, vocal music and stage works. From 1976 until his retirement in 1995, Schnebel served as professor of e ...

Aribert Reimann Aribert Reimann (, 4 March 1936 – 13 March 2024) was a German composer, pianist, and accompanist, known especially for his literary operas. His version of Shakespeare's ''King Lear'', the opera '' Lear'', was written at the suggestion of Dietr ...

Helmut Lachenmann Helmut Friedrich Lachenmann (; born 27 November 1935) is a German composer of contemporary classical music and pianist. Associated with the "instrumental musique concrète" style, Lachenmann is alongside Wolfgang Rihm as among the leading Germa ...

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

Hans Werner Henze Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large List of compositions by Hans Werner Henze, oeuvre is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Igor Stravinsky, Stravinsky, Mu ...

Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best-known works include '' Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', '' Polish Requiem'', '' ...

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer best known as a pioneer of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich descr ...

Sofia Gubaidulina Sofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina (24 October 1931 – 13 March 2025) was a Soviet and Russian composer of Modernism (music), modernist Holy minimalism, sacred music. She was highly prolific, producing numerous Chamber music, chamber, Orchestra, orch ...

György Kurtág György Kurtág (; born 19 February 1926) is a Hungarian composer of contemporary classical music and pianist. According to ''Grove Music Online'', with a style that draws on " Bartók, Webern and, to a lesser extent, Stravinsky, his work is c ...

Arvo Pärt Arvo Pärt (; born 11 September 1935) is an Estonian composer of contemporary classical music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs tintinnabuli, a compositional technique he invented. Pärt's music is in p ...

Henri Dutilleux Henri Paul Julien Dutilleux (; 22 January 1916 – 22 May 2013) was a French composer of late 20th-century classical music. Among the leading French composers of his time, his work was rooted in the Impressionistic style of Debussy and R ...

Heinz Holliger Heinz Robert Holliger (born 21 May 1939) is a Swiss composer, virtuoso oboist, and conductor. Celebrated for his versatility and technique, Holliger is among the most prominent oboists of his generation. His repertoire includes Baroque and Clas ...

, Hosokawa,

Rodion Shchedrin Rodion Konstantinovich Shchedrin ( rus, Родион Константинович Щедрин, , rədʲɪˈon kənstɐnʲˈtʲinəvʲɪtɕ ɕːɪˈdrʲin; born 16 December 1932) is a Soviet and Russian composer and pianist, winner of USSR St ...

Kaija Saariaho Kaija Anneli Saariaho (; ; 14 October 1952 – 2 June 2023) was a Finnish composer based in Paris, France. During the course of her career, Saariaho received commissions from the Lincoln Center for the Kronos Quartet and from IRCAM for the En ...

Hans Zender Johannes Wolfgang Zender (22 November 1936 – 22 October 2019) was a German conductor and composer. He was the chief conductor of several opera houses, and his compositions, many of them vocal music, have been performed at international festival ...

and

Péter Eötvös Péter Eötvös (, ; 2 January 194424 March 2024) was a Hungarian composer, conductor and academic teacher. After studies of composition in Budapest and Cologne, Eötvös composed film music in Hungary from 1962. He played with the Stockhaus ...

. His 80th birthday was celebrated in a concert of the Rheingau Musik Festival at

Schloss Johannisberg Schloss Johannisberg is a Neoclassical architecture, neoclassical palace and historic winery located in the village of Johannisberg (Geisenheim), Johannisberg, west of Wiesbaden in Hesse, within the renowned Rheingau (wine region), Rheingau win ...

on 16 August 2010, with compositions of five composers including three premieres, works by Kirchner, Rihm, Hosokawa, Lachenmann and

Jörg Widmann Jörg Widmann (; born 19 June 1973) is a German composer, conductor and clarinetist. In 2023, Widmann was the third most performed living contemporary composer in the world. Formerly a clarinet and composition professor at the University of ...

for clarinet, percussion, piano and saxophone. Among the works was Lachenmann's '' Sakura-Variationen''. The title of Hosokawa's composition for soprano saxophone and piano, percussion ad libitum, is ''Für Walter – Arc Song II''.

Walter-Fink-Award

Fink created, in collaboration with the Institut für Musik und Akustik of the

ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe The ZKM , Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe (until March 2016: ZKM Center for Art and Media Technology), a cultural institution, was founded in 1989 and, since 1997, is located in a former munitions factory in Karlsruhe, Germany. The ZKM (Germa ...

, the ''Walter-Fink-Award'' for electroacoustic music, dance and media. Fink sponsored it until 2012. The prize (€10,000) was awarded for the first time in 2009 to rosalie,

Humberto Teixeira Humberto Cavalcanti de Albuquerque Teixeira (5 January 1915 – 3 October 1979) was a Brazilian lawyer, politician, musician, and composer, mostly known for his partnership with musician Luiz Gonzaga. Together, they wrote one of the most impor ...

and .

Personal life

Fink was married to the soprano Renate Czsesla-Fink, who supported his work. He died in Wiesbaden on 13 April 2018 after a short illness, at the age of 87.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fink, Walter 1930 births 2018 deaths German patrons of music Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Businesspeople from Hesse People from Wiesbaden 20th-century German philanthropists