Death Composer Wolfgang Rihm dies

The composer and musicologist Wolfgang Rihm is dead. The German died on Saturday night at the age of 72, as announced by the Lucerne Festival. He had been Artistic Director of the Lucerne Festival Academy there since 2016.

According to his family, Rihm died in Ettlingen after an illness.

Born in Karlsruhe in 1952, Rihm was one of the most important composers of his generation. His catalog of works lists more than 400 compositions. These range from a piano waltz lasting just a few seconds to a monster ballet for large orchestra lasting almost two hours. Rihm supplied international opera houses.

Rihm began composing at the age of eleven. He studied at the University of Music in Karlsruhe, where he later became a professor of composition. Rihm was the father of two children and lived with his wife in Karlsruhe.

In addition to his encyclopaedic knowledge, the composer and music educator was a person of great kindness and humor, "always curious and open", wrote the festival.

SDA