Paul-Heinz Dittrich


Paul-Heinz Dittrich is a German composer.

Life and achievements

Born in Gornsdorf, From 1951 to 1956, Dittrich studied composition with Fidelio F. Finke and conducting with Günther Ramin at the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig and was choir conductor with the FDGB Ensemble in Weimar until 1958. From 1958 to 1960 he studied as a master student with Rudolf Wagner-Régeny and was director of the Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Ensemble in Berlin until 1963. From 1960 to 1976 he was assistant at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" in Berlin, after which he worked as a freelance musician.
In 1979 he became professor for musical composition in Berlin. In 1981 he was Scholar-in-Residence at the Bellagio Center in Italy. 1984 he stayed at the IRCAM and the Sorbonne in Paris. From 1983 to 1991 he trained Master students at the Academy of Arts, Berlin including Klaus Martin Kopitz, Hannes Zerbe, Annette Schlünz and Péter Kőszeghy.
In 1990 Dittrich became professor at the "Hanns Eisler" Academy of Music in Berlin. In 1991 he founded the Brandenburg Colloquium New Music at the Musikakademie Rheinsberg, of which he was artistic director.
Dittrich composes works for orchestra and chamber music, cantatas and Lieder. The chamber music pieces I, III, V, VII Die Blinden and XI Journal de poèmes were commissioned by the.
Dittrich is a member of the Akademie der Künste in Berlin and the Sächsische Akademie der Künste in Dresden. He is considered one of the most influential and best-known composers of serious contemporary music in Germany and has been in contact with personalities such as Carlfriedrich Claus, Burkhard Glaetzner, Vinko Globokar, Sofia Gubaidulina, Hans Peter Haller, Hans Werner Henze, Heinz Holliger, Herbert Kegel, Marek Kopelent, Aurèle Nicolet, Luigi Nono, Heinrich Schiff and Karlheinz Stockhausen. A comprehensive archive is located at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin.

Work

In 2014, the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin performed Dittrich's compositions Kammermusik VII on the theme Die Blinden by Maurice Maeterlinck from 1984 and Kafig-Musik from 1986 based on the story Die Verwandlung by Franz Kafka.

Guest professorships