George Alexander Albrecht

George Alexander Albrecht (15 February 1935 – 21 December 2021) was a German conductor and composer, who also worked as a musicologist and academic teacher. A prolific composer at a young age, he was Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) of the Staatsoper Hannover from 1965 for 30 years, where he led not only the major operas by Mozart and stageworks by Wagner, but contemporary composers, such as Aribert Reimann's Troades in 1987. He was GMD of the Nationaltheater Weimar from 1996, and taught at the Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt, Weimar. Albrecht promoted the works of neglected composers such as Wilhelm Furtwängler, Hans Pfitzner, and Erwin Schulhoff. In retirement, he focused on composing again. His fairy-tale opera Die Schneekönigin, after Andersen's "The Snow Queen", was premiered in Weimar in 2015. His Requiem für Syrien for soloists, choir and orchestra was first performed in Dresden in 2018 by the Dresdner Philharmonie, and his First Symphony "Sinfonia di due Mondi" for mezzo-soprano and large orchestra was premiered in 2019 by the Staatskapelle Weimar, conducted by his son Marc Albrecht. Biography Albrecht was born in the Leuchtenburg part of Osterholz, Hanover, Germany, the son of psychologist, psychotherapist and physician Carl Albrecht. He was a member of the Albrecht family: His brother Ernst Albrecht (1930–2014) was a politician, and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen was his niece. He was a choirboy at the Church of Our Lady, Bremen. At age 11, in October 1946, Albrecht wrote his first composition and later studied piano with Rudolf Hindemith. In 1949, he conducted his first concert. Albrecht studied violin, piano, and composition with Paul van Kempen in Siena and Hilversum, and in 1954 he received the Prix d'excellence of the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena. At the age of 24, he became a répétiteur at the Theater Bremen (1958–1961). In 1958, Rudolf Hindemith's opera Des Kaisers neue Kleider after Andersen's "The Emperor's New Clothes" was premiered in Bremen. From 1961 to 1965, he was first conductor at the Landestheater Hannover, with the Niedersächsisches Staatsorchester Hannover.