Gerhart von Westerman

Gerhart von Westerman (19 September 1894 – 14 February 1963) was a German composer, artistic director and music writer.

Born in Riga, after graduating from high school Westerman studied composition at the Hochschule für Musik in Berlin, where Paul Juon was his teacher.

From 1918 he continued his studies with Walter Courvoisier and August Reuß in Munich and received his doctorate in 1921 with a thesis on "Giovanni Porta als Opernkomponist".

In 1939 the Berlin Philharmonic appointed him as its artistic director (as successor to Hans von Benda).

In 1951 he founded the Berliner Festwochen, which he organized every year from then on until 1959.