© Photo: Charlotte Oswald
Current performances
26/11/2026
Tuomas Katajala (T), Joensuu City Orchestra, cond. Jukka Untamala
Joensuu, Carelia Hall, 6.00 pm
05/12/2026
in the ballet “1827 – EINE WINTERREISE“, cond. David Preil, director: Hans Henning Paar
Coburg, GLOBE, 7.30 pm
First night
09/12/2026
in the ballet “1827 – EINE WINTERREISE“, cond. David Preil, director: Hans Henning Paar
Coburg, GLOBE, 7.30 pm
12/12/2026
LO-SHU VI
mdi ensemble
Milan, Teatro Arsenale, 6.00 pm
13/12/2026
in the ballet “1827 – EINE WINTERREISE“, cond. David Preil, director: Hans Henning Paar
Coburg, GLOBE, 6.00 pm
17/12/2026
in the ballet “1827 – EINE WINTERREISE“, cond. David Preil, director: Hans Henning Paar
Coburg, GLOBE, 7.30 pm
Hans Zender
1936–2019
"Among the dominating characteristics of Zender's music are no doubt its flexibility, its rarely uniform pulse, its often bright and alert sound. Zender is anything but a composer of pleasurable sound oases. He hates everything that is all-inclusive. Nevertheless, his music has moments of profound peace. For beyond this precise organization, he has never neglected the spiritual component, the mysticism of the Christian Middle Ages as well as that of the Japanese haiku."
Gerhard R. Koch, FAZHans Zender was a German composer and conductor and one of the leading figures in contemporary music in Germany. In addition to his commitment to the avant-garde, he was always creatively engaged with musical tradition.
Awards
1997 · Frankfurt Music Prize
1997 · Goethe Prize of the City of Frankfurt
2002 · Culture Prize of Hessen
2011 · Award of European Church Music
1997 · Goethe Prize of the City of Frankfurt
2002 · Culture Prize of Hessen
2011 · Award of European Church Music
Memberships
Since 1985 · Freie Akademie der Künste, Hamburg
Since 1989 · Akademie der Künste, Berlin
Since 1994 · Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste, Munich
Since 1989 · Akademie der Künste, Berlin
Since 1994 · Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste, Munich
Conducting Positions
Bonn Opera (1964–1968)
GMD Kiel (1969–1972)
RSO Saarbrücken (1971–1984)
Hamburg State Opera (1984–1987)
Radiokamerorkest, Netherlands (1987–1990)
SWR Symphony Orchestra (1999–2011)
Biography
1936
Born in Wiesbaden on 22 November
1956–1963
Studies at the Musikhochschulen in Frankfurt and Freiburg; master class diploma in
composition (with Wolfgang Fortner), piano, and conducting; first stage experience at the Freiburg Municipal
Theater
1963/64
First one-year fellowship at the Villa Massimo, Rome
1964–1968
Principal conductor of the Bonn Opera
1968/69
Second one-year fellowship at the Villa Massimo, Rome
1969–1972
General Music Director of the city of Kiel
1971–1984
Principal conductor of the Saarbrücken Radio Symphony Orchestra
1984–1987
General Music Director in Hamburg and General Music Director of the Hamburg State Opera
1985
Member of the Freie Akademie der Künste, Hamburg
1987–1990
Principal conductor of the Radiokamerorkest of the Netherlands Radio; Principal Guest
Conductor of the Opéra National, Brussels
1988–2000
Professor of composition at the Frankfurt Musikhochschule
1989
Member of the Akademie der Künste, Berlin
1994
Member of the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste, Munich
1997
Frankfurt Music Prize; Goethe Prize of the City of Frankfurt
1999–2011
Permanent guest conductor and member of the artistic board of the SWR Symphony Orchestra
Baden-Baden and Freiburg
1999
Guest of honor at the Villa Massimo, Rome
2002
Culture Prize of Hessen
2005/06
Composer-in-Residence of the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin (DSO); Fellow of the
Wissenschaftskolleg Berlin
2011
Award of European Church Music; establishment of the "Hans und Gertrud Zender-Stiftung"
foundation
2013
Composer-in-Residence at the "Klangspuren Schwaz" Festival
2019
Passed away on 22 October after a long illness, aged 82, in Meersburg