Peter Ruzicka is a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 composer and conductor of classical music.

Peter Ruzicka was born in Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf

Düsseldorf is the capital city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and centre of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region.Düsseldorf is an important international business and financial centre and renowned for its fashion and trade fairs. Located centrally within the European Megalopolis, the...

 on July 3, 1948. He received his early musical training (piano, oboe and composition) at the Hamburg Conservatory. He studied composition with Hans Werner Henze

Hans Werner Henze

Hans Werner Henze is a German composer of prodigious output best known for "his consistent cultivation of music for the theatre throughout his life"...

 and Hans Otte

Hans Otte

Hans Otte born Hans Günther Franz Otte in Plauen, Germany was a German composer, pianist, radio promoter, and author of many pieces of musical theatre, sound installations, poems, drawings, and art videos. From 1959 to 1984 he served as music director for Radio Bremen...

. He studied law and musicology in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, Hamburg

Hamburg

-History:The first historic name for the city was, according to Claudius Ptolemy's reports, Treva.But the city takes its modern name, Hamburg, from the first permanent building on the site, a castle whose construction was ordered by the Emperor Charlemagne in AD 808...

 and Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

 (doctoral thesis: Berlin, 1977). The list of his compositions includes numerous orchestral and chamber music works as well as the opera „Celan“, which was premiered in Dresden

Dresden

Dresden is the capital city of the Free State of Saxony in Germany. It is situated in a valley on the River Elbe, near the Czech border. The Dresden conurbation is part of the Saxon Triangle metropolitan area....

 in 2001. His new opera “Hölderlin” had its premiere at the Berlin State Opera in 2008.

Peter Ruzicka was appointed professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg

Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg

The Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg is one of the larger universities of music in Germany.It was founded 1950 as Staatliche Hochschule für Musik on the base of the former private acting school of Annemarie Marks-Rocke and Eduard Marks.Studies include various music types from church music...

 in 1990. The composer is member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and of the Free Academy of Arts in Hamburg.

Peter Ruzicka was artistic director of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra

Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra

Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra can refer to one of two orchestras:* The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, known from 1956 to 1993 as the Radio-Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and situated in West Berlin during the Cold War...

 from 1979 to 1987 and director of the Hamburg State Opera

Hamburg State Opera

The Hamburg State Opera is one of the leading opera companies in Germany.Opera in Hamburg dates back to 2 January 1678 when the "Opern-Theatrum" was inaugurated with a performance of a biblical Singspiel by Johann Theile...

 and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Hamburg from 1988 to 1997. Moreover, he was Artistic Advisor of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

The Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra is a symphony orchestra of the Netherlands, based at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. In 1988, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands conferred the "Royal" title upon the orchestra...

 in Amsterdam from 1997 to 1999. In 1999 he was named President of the Bavarian Theatre Academy. From 2001 to 2006, Ruzicka took over the Artistic Directorship of the Salzburg Festival

Salzburg Festival

The Salzburg Festival is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer within the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart...

. At present he is artistic director of the Munich Biennale

Munich Biennale

The Munich Biennale is an opera festival in the city of Munich. The full German name is Internationales Festival für neues Musiktheater, literally: International Festival for New Music Theater. The biennial festival was created in 1988 by Hans Werner Henze and is held in even-numbered years over...

 which he took over from Hans Werner Henze in 1996.

As a conductor Peter Ruzicka has directed the German Symphony Orchestra in Berlin

Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin

The Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin is an orchestra based in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in 1946 by American occupation forces as the RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester . It was also known as the American Sector Symphony Orchestra...

 – recording CD productions of works by Mahler

Gustav Mahler

Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...

, Pettersson and Schreker – the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden

Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden

The Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden is an orchestra based in Dresden, Germany founded in 1548 by Kurfürst Moritz of Saxony. It is one of the world's oldest orchestras...

, the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, the Symphony Orchestra of the Bavarian Radio, the NDR Symphony Orchestra Hamburg - recording a cycle of 12 orchestral works by Hans Werner Henze -, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra

Bamberg Symphony Orchestra

The Bamberg Symphony is a German orchestra based in Bamberg and well known for its artistic excellence and frequent international touring...

, the Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart, the SWR Symphony Orchestra Baden-Baden and Freiburg

Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra

The Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra is a radio orchestra located in the German cities of Baden-Baden and Freiburg...

, the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne

WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne

The WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne is a German orchestra based in Cologne. The orchestra was founded in 1947 by Allied occupation authorities after World War II, as the orchestra of Nordwestdeutschen Rundfunk . The orchestra later acquired the names of the Cologne Radio Symphony Orchestra and...

, the Radio Symphony Orchestra Frankfurt

HR-Sinfonieorchester

The hr-Sinfonieorchester is the radio orchestra of Hessischer Rundfunk, the public broadcasting network of the German state of Hesse. Until 2005 it was the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, a name still used for international tours....

, the MDR Symphony Orchestra Leipzig, the Munich Philharmonic, the Orchestra of the German Opera Berlin

Deutsche Oper Berlin

The Deutsche Oper Berlin is an opera company located in the Charlottenburg district of Berlin, Germany. The resident building is also home to the Berlin State Ballet.-History:...

, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra

Vienna Symphony Orchestra

-History:In 1900, Ferdinand Löwe founded the orchestra as the Wiener Concertverein . In 1913 it moved into the Konzerthaus, Vienna. In 1919 it merged with the Tonkünstler Orchestra. In 1933 it acquired its current name...

, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra

Danish National Symphony Orchestra

The Danish National Symphony Orchestra , is a Danish orchestra based in Copenhagen. The DNSO is the principal orchestra of DR...

, the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

The Česká filharmonie is a symphony orchestra based in Prague and is the best-known and most respected orchestra in the Czech Republic.- History :...

, the Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra Tokyo

Yomiuri Nippon Symphony Orchestra

The is a Japanese symphony orchestra administratively based in Tokyo. The orchestra primarily performs concerts in Tokyo at the Suntory Hall, but also gives concerts at the Tokyo Opera City Concert Hall...

, and the China Philharmonic Orchestra

China Philharmonic Orchestra

The China Philharmonic Orchestra is an orchestra founded in Beijing, China on May 25, 2000, based on the previous "China Broadcasting Symphony Orchestra"...

 amongst others.

Selected works

Stage

• Celan, Musiktheater in sieben Entwürfen (1998–1999)
• Hölderlin, Eine Expedition (2007)

Orchestra

• Metamorphosen über ein Klangfeld von Joseph Haydn for Large Orchestra (1990)
• "... das Gesegnete, das Verfluchte ...", 4 Orchestra Sketches (1991)
• Tallis (1993)
• Nachtstück (1997)
• "... Vorgefühle ..." (1998)
• Nachklang (1999)
• Memorial (2001)
• Affluence (2003)
• "... ins Offene ...", Music for 22 Strings (2005–2006)
• Vorecho, 8 Rudiments (2005)
• Maelstrom (2007)
• "...Zurücknehmen..." (2009)

Concertante

• "...den Impuls zum Weitersprechen erst empfinge...", Music for Viola and Orchestra (1981)
• "...Inseln, randlos ..." for Violin, Chamber Chorus and Orchestra (1994–1995)
• Erinnerung for Clarinet and Orchestra (2001)

Chamber music

• ... über ein Verschwinden, String Quartet No.3 (1992)
• "... sich verlierend" for String Quartet and Narrator (1996)
• Tombeau for Flute (Alto Flute, Bass Flute) and String Quartet (2000)
• Sturz for String Quartet (2004)
• Nachschrift, 3 Pieces for Cello and Piano (2008)
• Erinnerung und Vergessen, String Quartet No.6 with Soprano (2008)

Vocal

• Acht Gesänge nach Fragmenten von Nietzsche (8 Songs after Fragments of Nietzsche) for Mezzo-Soprano (or Baritone) and Piano (1992)
• Die Sonne sinkt, 8 Songs after Fragments of Nietzsche for Baritone (or Mezzo-soprano) and Orchestra (1997-2000)
• Recherche (-im Innersten) for Chorus and Orchestra (1998)
• Celan Symphonie for Baritone, Mezzo-Soprano and Orchestra (2002)
• "... und möchtet Ihr an mich die Hände legen ...", 5 Fragments by Hölderlin for Baritone and Piano (2006–2007)

Piano

• Parergon, 7 Sketches to Hölderlin (2006)
• Five Scenes for Piano (2009)

Honors and awards

• 1969 Förderungspreis der Stadt Stuttgart
• 1970 Kompositionspreis im Internationalen Kompositionswettbewerb „Béla Bartók“, Budapest
• 1971 Unesco-Preis im International Rostrum of Composers
  International Rostrum of Composers
  The International Rostrum of Composers is an annual forum organized by the International Music Council that offers broadcasting representatives the opportunity to exchange and publicize pieces of contemporary classical music...
  
  
• 1972 Preisträger im „Internationalen Gaudeamus-Kompositionswettbewerb“, Hilversum
• 1972 Bach-Preis-Stipendium der Freien und Hansestadt Hamburg
• 1997 Ehrenmitgliedschaft Staatsoper Hamburg
• 2004 Louis-Spohr-Preis der Stadt Braunschweig
• 2005 Johannes Gutenberg-Stiftungsprofessur Mainz
• 2005 Ehrenmitgliedschaft Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin
• 2005 Ehrenmitgliedschaft Deutscher Musikrat (German Music Council, a member of the International Music Council
  International Music Council
  The International Music Council was created in 1949 as UNESCO's advisory body on matters of music. It is based at UNESCO's headquarters in Paris, France, where it functions as an independent international non-governmental organization...
  
  )
• 2006 Österreichisches Ehrenzeichen für Wissenschaft und Kunst 1. Klasse
• 2006 Goldenes Ehrenzeichen des Landes Salzburg
• 2006 Wappenmedaille in Gold der Landeshauptstadt Salzburg
• 2006 Silberne Mozart-Medaille der Internationalen Stiftung Mozarteum
• 2006 Preis „Neues Hören“ für gelingende Vermittlung zeitgenössischer Musik, München
• 2007 Wolfgang Schüssel-Preis der International Salzburg Association
• 2008 Ehrenpromotion zum Dr. phil. h.c. der Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg

External links

• Peter Ruzicka at the Living Composers Project
• Peter Ruzicka website

Sources

• Peter Ruzicka - Festschrift zum 50. Geburtstag. Hamburg: Musikverlag Sikorski, 1998
• Dorte Schmidt, Ruzicka, Peter, in Oxford Music Online.