Otmar Suitner

Who was Otmar Suitner?

Otmar Suitner 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 Conductor of the Staatskapelle Dresden from 1960 to 1964, and then Music Director at the Berlin State Opera from 1964 to 1990. A fairly prolific recording artist, he was particularly notable in Austro-German music, having conducted discs of works by Max Reger and Paul Hindemith as well as the first Beethoven symphony cycle to be released on CD. He taught at the Mozarteum for twenty years. With a girlfriend, Suitner had one son called Igor and he produced a documentary about his father in Suitner's later years called The Music of My Father.