Peter Dannenberg (21 May 1930 – 9 March 2015) was a German musicologist, music writer and opera director.
Danneneberg was born in Potsdam. After studying in Kiel and Freiburg in Br., Dannenberg was a feature editor in Kiel. From 1969 he then became editor-in-chief and music critic in charge of Die Welt; from 1974 he held the same position at the Stuttgarter Zeitung. He was a permanent contributor to most German radio stations, the magazine Opernwelt and other periodicals. From 1977 to 1986 he worked under the artistic direction of Christoph von Dohnányi as chief dramaturg of the Hamburg State Opera and at the same time director of the experimental stage of Opera Stabile with numerous world premieres in opera and concert, and also by Wolfgang Rihm, Heinz Holliger, Manfred Trojahn, Wilhelm Killmayer, Aribert Reimann, Günter Bialas, Isang Yun, Rolf Liebermann and Udo Zimmermann. From 1987 to 1990 he was deputy artistic director of the Oper Frankfurt, from 1990 to 1995 general director of the Stages of the State Capital Kiel and from 1995 to 2004 finally artistic director of the Hamburger Symphoniker.
From 1989 Dannenberg was chairman for life of the Alexander Zemlinsky Fund at the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna. From 1990 to 1997 he was deputy chairman of the .
Dannenberg died after a long illness in the night of 10 March 2015 at the age of 84 years in Kronshagen, Schleswig-Holstein.[1]