Siegfried Geißler

Siegfried Rudolf Geißler (26 March 1929 – 10 July 2014) was a German composer, conductor, hornist and politician. He founded the Thüringen Philharmonie Suhl in 1979. After the Wende, he was a member of the New Forum who was elected to the first Landtag of Thuringia in 1990. As its senior, he was its Father of the House and opened the inaugural session. Career Composer, conductor and hornist Born in Dresden, Geißler was born the son of a working-class family in Dresden, attended elementary school from 1935 to 1943 and then studied piano and horn at the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber Dresden until 1946. Already at this time he made some minor appearances as hornist with the Staatskapelle Dresden, the Semperoper and the Dresden Philharmonic. He then worked as principal hornist at the municipal theatre of Cottbus. In 1947, he escaped to the West and became principal hornist in the symphony orchestra of Speyer. During this time he first appeared as a conductor. After his return to the DDR in 1951 he became solo hornist of the Kreiskulturorchester of Sonneberg. From 1953 he was conductor of the Erzgebirgsphilharmonic of Aue, in 1956 of the Thüringisches Kreiskulturorchester Mü