Horst Förster (13 March 1920 – 30 June 1986) was a German conductor, choirmaster, violinist and university teacher.
[8] According to Gilbert Stöck, he struck "a rather independent path in the programme conception" in the Saale city, which met with criticism in the East-German Ministry of Culture [de].
[9] Thus, as late as 1956, on the occasion of the Hallische Musiktage, which he had helped to initiate,[10] Walter Draeger's Violin Concerto.
[11] Afterwards, "[Förster] adapted to certain political guidelines", aiming at "ensuring quality in performances of contemporary music" without having sustainably promoted composers of the region, Stöck says.
[10] In 1962, Förster premiered the Piano Concerto by Ernst Hermann Meyer with the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra and Dieter Zechlin as soloist.
[13] Repeatedly he was invited abroad, for example in 1963 he gave guest performances with the Riga Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Saint Petersburg Philharmonic in the Soviet Union.
[16] After Förster had been criticised by the state in Halle for his too Western repertoire, he tried to serve more composers from Eastern Europe in Dresden.
[17] Thus he performed the Rhapsody for Orchestra by Johannes Paul Thilman,[18] the concerto for piano (with Annerose Schmidt)[19] and the Symphonic Concerto by Gerhard Rosenfeld as well as the cantatas Eros by Fidelio F. Finke and Schir Haschirim by Rudolf Wagner-Régeny[20] on the premiere.