Hans Zender
d. 22 October 2019, Meersburg
1956–63 studies at the Musikhochschulen Frankfurt and Freiburg, master classes in composition (with Wolfgang Fortner), piano and conducting; works at the municipal theaters in Freiburg
1963/64 and 1968/69 fellow of the Villa Massimo (German Academy), Rome
1964–68 principal conductor of the opera house in Bonn
1969–72 general music director of the city of Kiel
1971–84 principal conductor of the RSO Saarbrucken
1980 Kunstpreis des Saarlandes
1984–87 general music director at the Staatsoper Hamburg
1987–90 principal conductor of the Radiokamerorkest in the Netherlands; principal guest conductor of the Opéra National, Brussels
1988–2000 professor of composition at the Frankfurter Musikhochschule
1997 Frankfurt Music Prize; City of Frankfurt’s Goethe Prize
1999–2009 permanent guest conductor of the SWR Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden and Freiburg
2002 Cultural Award of Hessen
2005/06 Composer-in-residence of the DSO, Berlin; fellow at the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin
2011 European Church Music Prize
2013 Composer-in-residence of Klangspuren Schwaz
Member of the Academies in Hamburg, Berlin and Munich
International guest activities as conductor; television projects and numerous recordings (so the Zender-Edition with cpo)
Publications: Happy New Ears and Wir steigen niemals in denselben Fluß (published by Herder-Verlag, Freiburg)
This biography can be reproduced free of charge in concert programmes with the following credit: Reprinted by kind permission of Boosey & Hawkes