Kurz, Siegfried
Kurz, Siegfried
Kurz, Siegfried, German conductor and composer; b. Dresden, July 18, 1930. He studied conducting with Ernst Hintze, composition with Fidelio Finke, and trumpet with Gerd Seifert at the Staatlichen Akademie für Musik und Theater in Dresden (1945–50). From 1949 to 1960 he was conductor of music for dramatic productions at the Dresden State Theater. In 1960 he became a conductor at the Dresden State Opera; in 1975 he was named its music director; in 1979 he also became a prof, of composition at the Dresden Hochschule für Musik. He toured with the Dresden State Orch. to Austria, Japan, and the U.S. As a conductor, he was honored with the titles of Staatskapellmeister (1965) and Generalmusikdirektor (1971); as a composer, he received the Kunstpreis and the Nationalpreis of the German Democratic Republic. His compositions combine the principles of Classical lucidity with the dissonant counterpoint of the modern era.
Works
orch.:Sinfonia piccola (1953); Trumpet Concerto (1953); 2 syms. (1958, 1959); Chamber Concerto for Wind Quintet and Strings (1962); Piano Concerto (Dresden, Oct. 2, 1964); Variations (1968); Sonatine (1969); Music for Winds, Percussion, and Strings (1969); Horn Concerto (Dresden, Dec. 20, 1973). chamber: Wind Quintet (1950); Sonatine for 7 Brass Instruments (1952).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire