Siemens Music Prize 2014 for Peter Gülke
The 2014 Ernst von Siemens Music Prize, endowed with 250,000 euros, goes to conductor and musicologist Peter Gülke, who was Professor of Musicology at the University of Basel from 1999 to 2002.
Born in Weimar in 1934, Gülke studied in Weimar, Jena and Leipzig. He completed his doctorate under Heinrich Besseler in 1958. He moved to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1983 and completed his habilitation in Berlin with Carl Dahlhaus in 1984. From 1986 to 1996 he was General Music Director of the city of Wuppertal, and from 1996 to 2000 he was also Professor of Conducting at the Freiburg State University of Music.
Gülke was not only a border crosser in many senses of the word, but also a "world connector", writes the foundation in its tribute. He repeatedly managed to build bridges between theory and practice, conductors and teachers and, not least, between the musical worlds in the former GDR and West Germany.
The Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation is awarding a total of three million euros in prizes and grants. In addition to the main prize of 250,000 euros, 35,000 euros each and the production of a portrait CD will be awarded to composer sponsorship prize winners, who will be announced at the end of February. The rest will be distributed among around 150 projects in the field of contemporary music worldwide.
