George Alexander Albrecht

He was a member of the Albrecht family: His brother Ernst Albrecht (1930–2014) was a politician, and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was his niece.

He was a choirboy at the Church of Our Lady, Bremen.

George Alexander Albrecht (15 February 1935 – 21 December 2021) was a German conductor and composer, who also worked as a musicologist and academic teacher.

At age 11, in October 1946, Albrecht wrote his first composition and later studied piano with Rudolf Hindemith.

In 1949, he conducted his first concert.

Albrecht studied violin, piano, and composition with Paul van Kempen in Siena and Hilversum, and in 1954 he received the Prix d'excellence of the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena.

At the age of 24, he became a répétiteur at the Theater Bremen (1958–1961).

In 1958, Rudolf Hindemith's opera Des Kaisers neue Kleider after Andersen's "The Emperor's New Clothes" was premiered in Bremen.

From 1961 to 1965, he was first conductor at the Landestheater Hannover, with the Niedersächsisches Staatsorchester Hannover.

A prolific composer at a young age, he was Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) of the Staatsoper Hannover from 1965 for 30 years, where he led not only the major operas by Mozart and stageworks by Wagner, but contemporary composers, such as Aribert Reimann's Troades in 1987.

In 1965, Albrecht became Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) of the Staatsoper Hannover, at age 29 then the youngest GMD in Germany.

He focused on the symphonies of Gustav Mahler and Anton Bruckner.

He programmed all major operas by Mozart and stageworks by Wagner.

Albrecht performed Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen staged by intendant Hans-Peter Lehmann with sets and costumes by Ekkehard Grübler.

In 1983, he revived Marschner's Hans Heiling; an opera whose composer had also been conductor at the Hannover opera.

Albrecht then conducted some of the more infrequently presented operas, like Janacek's Jenufa, Handel's Jephta and Hercules, Wolf-Ferrari's Sly and Alban Berg's Lulu.

He conducted Wagner's Der fliegende Holländer at the Vienna State Opera in 1985, and returned for other stage works by Wagner.

He introduced contemporary composers, conducting Aribert Reimann's Troades in 1987, and Bernd Alois Zimmermann's Die Soldaten in 1989.

He conducted a production of Schoenberg's Moses und Aron, staged by George Tabori, for both Hannover and Oper Leipzig.

He worked together with an ensemble of singers including Isoldé Elchlepp, Renate Behle and Waltraud Meier.

From 1990 to 1995, Albrecht was a regular guest conductor of the Semperoper in Dresden, where his work included conducting the Tabori production of Moses und Aron in 1994.

Albrecht concluded his tenure in Hannover with the 1992/93 season.

Albrecht was guest conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic and Munich Philharmonic, the Bamberg Symphony and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

He made further guest appearances in New York, St. Petersburg, Tokyo and Barcelona.

He was GMD of the Nationaltheater Weimar from 1996, and taught at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt, Weimar.

Albrecht promoted the works of neglected composers such as Wilhelm Furtwängler, Hans Pfitzner, and Erwin Schulhoff.

In retirement, he focused on composing again.

As the 24th successor of Kapellmeister Johann Sebastian Bach, he served as GMD of the Deutsches Nationaltheater und Staatskapelle Weimar from 1996 to 2002.

On 1 January 2002, he had a cardiac arrest on stage at New Year's Concert conducting Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

Following 2002, he was honorary conductor and returned to composing.

Albrecht championed the music of Wilhelm Furtwängler, Hans Pfitzner, and Erwin Schulhoff among others.

He taught at the Musikhochschule Hannover and Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt, Weimar.

Albrecht married twice and became a father five times.

The conductor Marc Albrecht is his son from his marriage to Corinne, a ballet dancer who became a physiotherapist.

He was later married to pianist Liese Klahn, daughter of Erich Klahn.

Albrecht became involved in hospice work and was a devout Catholic.

In spring 2021, he and his wife moved from Weimar to Southern Germany.

His fairy-tale opera Die Schneekönigin, after Andersen's "The Snow Queen", was premiered in Weimar in 2015.

His Requiem für Syrien for soloists, choir and orchestra was first performed in Dresden in 2018 by the Dresdner Philharmonie, and his First Symphony "Sinfonia di due Mondi" for mezzo-soprano and large orchestra was premiered in 2019 by the Staatskapelle Weimar, conducted by his son Marc Albrecht.

Albrecht was born in the Leuchtenburg part of Osterholz, Hanover, Germany, the son of psychologist, psychotherapist and physician Carl Albrecht.