Albrecht, George Alexander
Albrecht, George Alexander
Albrecht, George Alexander, German conductor; b. Bremen, Feb. 15, 1935. He received his training from Hermann Grevesmühl (1942–54), Paul van Kempen at the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena and in Hilversum (1954–55), and Rudolf Hindemith (1956–58). In 1961 he was named to the position of 1st conductor of the Hannover State Opera, where he subsequently was its Generalmusikdirektor from 1964 to 1993. He also was a prof. at the Hannover Hochschule für Musik from 1980 to 1993. In 1993 he became chief conductor of the Philharmonia Hungarica in Marl kreis Recklinghausen and a guest conductor at the Dresden State Opera. He then became Generalmusikdirektor of the National Theater and the State Orch. in Weimar in 1996. In 1997 he also was made a prof. at the Franz Liszt Hochschule für Musik in Weimar. In 1989 he was awarded the Gustav Mahler Gold Medal and in 1996 the Bundesverdienstkreuz of the Federal Republic of Germany. As a guest conductor, he appeared with opera houses in Vienna, Barcelona, Bologna, Trieste, Rome, Turin, Venice, and Madrid. He also was a guest conductor of the Berlin Phil., the Munich Phil., the Dresden State Orch., the Gewandhaus Orch. in Leipzig, the Czech Phil, in Prague, the NHK Sym. Orch. in Tokyo, and all of the German radio orchs.
—Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire