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Repertory Archive
Kurt-Heinz Stolze
Credits
Biography
Kurt-Heinz Stolze was born in Germany in 1926. He received his musical training at the Conservatory in Hamburg where he studied piano, organ, conducting, and composition. Upon graduating he became rehearsal coach at the opera in Hamburg and later at the Royal Swedish Opera, Stockholm. From 1959 he was Kappellmeister at the Wuerttemberg State Theatre, Stuttgart.
Stolze both composed and arranged music for ballet. He worked closely with John Cranko, arranging the music by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky for Onegin, and the music by Domenico Scarlatti for Cranko’s The Taming of the Shrew. He also orchestrated Stuttgart Ballet’s productions of Les Sylphides and Kyrie Eleisas and conducted the orchestra for the Stuttgart Ballet on numerous occasions. In 1963, he composed the music for one of John Cranko‚Äôs ballets, Wir reisen nach Jerusalem (We Travel to Jerusalem).
Stolze died in 1970 at the age of 39.