Rainer Riehn

{{Short description|German composer and music conductor}}

Rainer Riehn (12 November 1941 – 9 June 2015) was a German composer and conductor, and a co-editor of music theory magazines.

Riehn was born in Danzig, Germany (modern Gdańsk, Poland) studied music theory in Mainz, Zürich, and Berlin and composition with Gottfried Michael Koenig in Utrecht.{{cite web | title=Rainer Riehn | website=MuseumsQuartier Wien | date=14 February 2018 | url=https://www.mqw.at/institutionen/q21/artists-in-residence/2010/rainer-riehn | access-date=7 August 2021}} He met the music theorist Heinz-Klaus Metzger at the Darmstädter Ferienkurse in the summer of 1965.{{cite web |last=Dümling |first=Albrecht | title=Ein Leben im Querstand – Ausgabe: 7/15 – neue musikzeitung | website=nmz |date=30 June 2015 | url=https://www.nmz.de/artikel/ein-leben-im-querstand | language=de | access-date=7 August 2021}} In 1968 he founded the Ensemble Musica Negativa,{{cite web |last=Neuner |first=Florian | title=Das Ensemble Musica Negativa – Music before Revolution | website=Deutschlandfunk Kultur | date=6 August 2020 | url=https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/das-ensemble-musica-negativa-music-before-revolution.3819.de.html?dram:article_id=481732 | language=de | access-date=7 August 2021}} in 1977 the series Musik-Konzepte, which he published until 2003 (together with Heinz-Klaus Metzger).{{cite web | title=Rainer Riehn auf suhrkamp.de | website=Suhrkamp Verlag | url=https://www.suhrkamp.de/person/rainer-riehn-p-3991 | language=de | access-date=7 August 2021}} In 1984 Metzger and Riehn received the Deutscher Kritikerpreis as editors of the Musik-Konzepte. In 1987 he was chief dramaturge at the Oper Frankfurt together with Heinz-Klaus Metzger, and initiated the first commission for an opera composition for John Cage (Europeras 1 & 2).