Honored Persons

 

Gertraud & Friedrich Cerha

Friedrich Cerha (born February 17, 1926 in Vienna) is an Austrian composer and conductor. For him and his wife, the musicologist Gertraud Cerha (born July 25, 1928 in Markgrafneusiedl / Lower Austria, grew up in Gmunden) the commitment to freedom is highly important. As a child, Friedrich saw the places where the brutal civil war took place in Vienna and later deserted twice as a young soldier from the German Wehrmacht. The reason: Like his parents, he rejected the Nazi regime and did not want to serve it. Ironically, in 1945 he was considered a soldier of the Wehrmacht and had to escape the imprisonment of the Allies by another escape. During this escape he spent formative months in the Tyrolean mountains at Lamsenjoch. Friedrich Cerha holds domestic and international honorary titles and awards, eg. the Great Austrian State Prize for Music. In 1952 Friedrich and Gertraud married. She accompanied the musical path of her husband, but not only that: Gertraud Cerha distinguished herself as a musicologist and music educator and manager. She taught at the University of Music in Vienna and paved the way for many young music students. From the beginning she accompanied the development of the ensemble "the row", which was to become very important for the performance of new music in Vienna. She took over the initially difficult organization of rehearsals, concerts and later on trips abroad. In 2009, Gertraud Cerha was honored for her services with the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art I. Class.