Albrecht, Gerd (1935- )

German conductor. His study at Hamburg was followed by conducting posts at the opera houses of Mainz, Lübeck, and Kassel (1963-72). He appeared as guest conductor with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and in 1967 gave the first performance of Henze's Telemanniana with the orchestra. He was principal conductor at the Deutsche Opera, Berlin, 1972-79, leading the first performance of Fortner's Elisabeth Tudor in 1972. He worked with the Zurich Tonhalle orchestra from 1975, giving the first performance of Henze's Barcarola in 1980. At the 1982 Munich Festival he gave Moses und Aron, and in 1986 led Der fliegende Holländer at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London, and the first performance of Reimann's Troades at Munich. He was chief conductor of the Hamburg Opera from 1988, and of the Czech Philharmonic 1992-95. He premiered Schnittke's Historia von Dr Johann Fausten at Hamburg in 1995.