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Rolf Riehm
Rolf Riehm
German composer and oboist
1
Sebastian Weigle
Sebastian Weigle
Horn player and conductor
2
Sylvain Cambreling
Sylvain Cambreling
French conductor
3
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
German-born American composer (1895–1963)
4
Günter Reich
Günter Reich
baritone
5
Emil von Reznicek
Emil von Reznicek
Austrian late Romantic composer
6
Wolfgang Rennert
Wolfgang Rennert
German conductor
7
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
German lyric baritone and conductor
8
Toshio Hosokawa
Toshio Hosokawa
Japanese composer of contemporary classical music
9
Albert Coates
Albert Coates
British conductor
10
Peter Schreier
Peter Schreier
German tenor and conductor
11
Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini
Andrea Lorenzo Scartazzini
Swiss composer
12
Carl Orff
Carl Orff
German composer
13
Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze
German composer
14
Hans Stadlmair
Hans Stadlmair
Austrian conductor and composer
15
Herbert von Karajan
Herbert von Karajan
Austrian conductor
16
Christian Thielemann
Christian Thielemann
German conductor
17
Luigi Nono
Luigi Nono
Italian composer
18
Cornelia Kallisch
Cornelia Kallisch
German operatic mezzo-soprano (born 1956)
19
Karl Böhm
Karl Böhm
Austrian conductor
Intro
Austrian conductor
Awards Received
Knight Commander's Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany
Great Silver Medal of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria
Musikpreis der Stadt Duisburg
Culture Medal of Upper Austria
Theodor W. Adorno Award
City of Vienna Prize for Music
Ernst von Siemens Music Prize
Frankfurter Musikpreis
Member of, past and present
Academy of Arts, Berlin

Academy of Arts, Berlin

Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts

Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts

Michael Andreas Gielen (20 July 1927 – 8 March 2019) was an Austrian conductor and composer known for promoting contemporary music in opera and concert. Principally active in Europe, his performances are characterized by precision and vivacity, aiding his ability to interpret the complex contemporary music he specialized in.

Raised in Argentina, he first worked in Vienna and was Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) of the Royal Swedish Opera. He conducted notable world premieres such as György Ligeti's Requièm, Karlheinz Stockhausen's Carré, and Bernd Alois Zimmermann's opera Die Soldaten and his Requiem für einen jungen Dichter. He directed the Oper Frankfurt from 1977 to 1987, installing more contemporary operas, winning stage directors such as Hans Neuenfels and Ruth Berghaus, and reviving operas such as Schreker's Die Gezeichneten. During his era, the company became one of the leading operas.

Gielen was also principal conductor of the National Orchestra of Belgium (1969–1973), the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra (1980–1986) and the Southwest German Radio Symphony Orchestra (1986–1999). As a composer, he worked in the tradition of the Second Viennese School, often setting modern literature to music. His works were premiered with performers such as Joan Carroll, Siegfried Palm, Aloys Kontarsky and the LaSalle Quartet.