Peter Gülke, born on April 29, 1934, in Weimar, Germany, was a German conductor and musicologist. He studied at the Conservatory of Music in Weimar and the universities of Jena and Leipzig, earning a doctorate in 1958. His early career included roles at various theaters, such as Theater Rudolstadt and Hans Otto Theater. In 1976, Gülke became kapellmeister at the Semperoper in Dresden. He remained in West Germany following a 1983 guest performance in Hamburg, and served as Generalmusikdirektor in Wuppertal from 1986 to 1996. From 2015 to 2020, he was the chief conductor of the Brandenburger Symphoniker. Notable recordings include the complete symphonic fragments of Franz Schubert with the Staatskapelle Dresden. Gülke received numerous awards, including the Sigmund Freud Prize for Scientific Prose in 1994 and the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize in 2014. He died on April 26, 2026, at the age of 91.
