ABU mourns the loss of founding president Reinhart von Gutzeit

With the transformation of the Bruckner Conservatory into the Anton Bruckner University, Reinhart von Gutzeit played a leading role in one of the most formative phases of the BrucknerUni and was responsible for setting the decisive course of this artistic educational institution. The enthusiastic music educator and music mediator was personally present among the guests at the celebrations to mark the 20th anniversary of the ABU becoming a university in November 2024.

Von Gutzeit was born in Berlin in 1947 and studied at the Cologne University of Music and at the universities of Cologne, Düsseldorf and Freiburg. In addition to his passion for the violin, viola and conducting, he devoted himself both as a teacher and music school director to the promotion of music for young people, which was a matter close to his heart in many forms. After holding positions as music school director in Rheinbach and Bochum, his path led him to Linz in 1995 as director of the Bruckner Conservatory. During these years, Reinhart von Gutzeit took the necessary steps towards democratization for the transformation of the structures into a private university and in 2004, in the course of the accreditation of the Bruckner Conservatory as a private university, he habilitated as a university professor for music education and music mediation. In the same year, he became its rector before moving to the Mozarteum University Salzburg in 2006.

President Martin Rummel on the death of Reinhart von Gutzeit: “Our founding president Reinhart von Gutzeit combined artistic and pedagogical excellence with farsightedness in terms of higher education policy and human warmth - qualities that made him a formative figure in European higher music education.”

Numerous awards honor his great commitment to the sustainable development of the Upper Austrian education and research landscape. He was awarded the Golden Medal of Honor of the Province of Upper Austria and was made an Honorary Senator by BrucknerUni in 2024. 

In grateful remembrance of Reinhart von Gutzeit's legacy, President Martin Rummel continues: "This appointment not only recognized his services to our institution, but also the deep connection he lived with the university and many of us personally over many years. I will miss his wise voice, his generosity in dialog and his tireless commitment to strong, values-based music education. My thoughts are with his wife and his large family, whom he loved so much."

Governor Thomas Stelzer joins in paying tribute to the deceased and remembering a visionary of our time:
"Reinhart von Gutzeit was an outstanding personality for musical education in Upper Austria. With his visionary power, he led the Bruckner Conservatory on the path to today's Anton Bruckner University - as a place of excellence, openness and international appeal. His work remains part of our cultural memory; Upper Austria and the Austrian musical landscape owe him a great deal."

The Anton Bruckner University will always honor the memory of the personality and work of its founding president.

Natalie N. Glanzmann