Peter Ruzicka

Who is Peter Ruzicka?

Peter Ruzicka is a German composer and conductor of classical music.

Peter Ruzicka was born in Düsseldorf on July 3, 1948. He received his early musical training at the Hamburg Conservatory. He studied composition with Hans Werner Henze and Hans Otte. He studied law and musicology in Munich, Hamburg and Berlin. The list of his compositions includes numerous orchestral and chamber music works as well as the opera „Celan“, which was premiered in Dresden in 2001. His new opera “Hölderlin” had its premiere at the Berlin State Opera in 2008.

Peter Ruzicka was artistic director of the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1979 to 1987 and director of the Hamburg State Opera and the Philharmonic Orchestra of Hamburg from 1988 to 1997. Moreover, he was Artistic Advisor of the Royal Concertgebouw 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. At present he is artistic director of the Munich Biennale which he took over from Hans Werner Henze in 1996.

Peter Ruzicka was appointed professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg in 1990. The composer is member of the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts in Munich and of the Free Academy of Arts in Hamburg.