Siegfried Matthus

Siegfried Matthus (13 April 1934 – 27 August 2021) was a German composer, conductor, and festival founder and manager. Some of his operas, such as Judith, were premiered at the Komische Oper Berlin in East Berlin. In 1991, he founded the chamber opera festival Kammeroper Schloss Rheinsberg and directed it until 2018. In 2005, he composed a Te Deum for the reopening of the Dresden Frauenkirche. Matthus is considered one of Germany’s most often performed contemporary composers. Biography Matthus was born in (now in Ozyorsky District), East Prussia. His father made sure that the son received piano lessons. Matthus attended secondary school in Rheinsberg, followed by studies at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler in Berlin. After graduating, he continued his studies in composition with Rudolf Wagner-Régeny and Hanns Eisler, and was shortly thereafter made the youngest composer in residence in the history of the Komische Oper Berlin by Walter Felsenstein. Stage works Matthus composed more than a dozen stage works. The opera Die Weise von Liebe und Tod des Cornets Christoph Rilke (Cornet Christoph Rilke’s song of love and death ) after Rainer Maria Rilke was completed in 1983, first pe