Otto Gerdes

Otto Gerdes (born January 20, 1920 in Cologne ; † June 15, 1989 ) was a German conductor and music producer .

Life

Gerdes studied at the Cologne University of Music . In 1946 he founded a dance orchestra in Cologne, consisting of 15 musicians, which was then available as the "Kölner Rundfunk- Tanzorchester " (Cologne Radio Dance Orchestra ) to the NWDR Cologne, which at that time was a branch of the Hamburg-based NWDR and operated a single medium wave .

The orchestra was dissolved in autumn 1947. Otto Gerdes took over the post of conductor of the entertainment orchestra at the station in Koblenz of the Südwestfunk (SWF), which is currently being set up . As a result of the relocation of the state government of Rhineland-Palatinate from Koblenz to Mainz, there were also changes at the Koblenz transmitter.

Gerdes later took over conducting with other orchestras, but now, in contrast to his work in Cologne, always in the electrical field , i.e. so-called "serious" music. He worked as a conductor, music producer and artistic director at opera houses in Berlin and Munich and joined Deutsche Grammophon in 1956 in the same capacity .

The music critic Norman Lebrecht reports in one of his books that Otto Gerdes was dismissed from the service of the record company shortly after he greeted the conductor Herbert von Karajan with a jovial greeting that morning with "Mr. colleague".

With the radio symphony orchestras in Berlin and Leipzig he recorded various titles for the GDR label “ Eterna ” and, according to reports, also worked for the Czechoslovakian “ Supraphon ”.

Otto Gerdes was married to the opera singer Margot Janz (1920–2008). The marriage ended in divorce in the 1960s.

In 2001 Gerdes was posthumously awarded the honorary medal of the Free Musicians' Lodge in Baden-Baden for his life's work.

Web links

Works by and about Otto Gerdes in the catalog of the German National Library

personal data
SURNAME	Gerdes, Otto
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German conductor and music producer
DATE OF BIRTH	January 20, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH	Cologne
DATE OF DEATH	June 15, 1989