Born July 3rd, 1948, in Düsseldorf, Peter Ruzicka studied piano, oboe and counterpoint at the Conservatory of Hamburg from 1963 to 1968 and then composition with Hans Werner Henze in Rome and Otte in Bremen. He is intendant of the Radio Symphony Orchestra of Berlin from 1979 to 1988 and the Hamburg Opera from 1988 until 1997. In 1985 he became a member of the Bavarian Academy of beaux-arts. In 1996 he succeeded Hans Werner Henze as artistic director of the Munich Biennale.

His catalog, rich with some fifty works, is mainly comprised of orchestral music (Antifone, 1970 In processo di tempo, 1971; Befragung, 1974; Satyagraha, 1984; Metamorphosen über ein klangfeld von Joseph Haydn, 1990; Vorgefühle, 1998...), vocal music (Esta Noche, 1967; Gestalt und Abbruch, 1979, Der die Gesänge zerschlug 1985; Vier Gesänge nach Fragmenten von Nietzsche, 1992), chamber music (four string quartets; Stress for eight groups of percussion, 1972...) and compositions for solo instruments (Sonata per violoncello, 1969; Zeit piece for organ, 1975; Preludes, six pieces for piano, 1987).

In addition, Peter Ruzicka has written numerous books and articles devoted to musicology four of which are consecrated to Gustav Mahler.

The early compositions of Peter Ruzicka are influenced by Henze, Ligeti and Stockhausen. As from Fragment (1970), we can detect the influences of Mahler and Webern.

From 1985, notably with Stele für Paul Celan, Ruzicka frees himself from all influence, even if he keeps a strong affinity with Mahler.

All his music is built on a dialectic of opposites: communication / silence, creation / destruction, past / future, art / thought... The themes of death and pain, central to the composer's work, are present in his earliest compositions: Esta Noche, funeral march for the victims of the Vietnam War, or in a different style, Die Sonne sinkt (Le soleil décroît, 1998), six songs from fragments of Friedrich Nietzsche for mezzo-soprano (or baritone) and orchestra.

In 1999 he composed his opera Celan which he tranformed into symphonic form in 2003 - Celan-Symphony - composed of 10 "parts" which all refer to seven different "tableaux" (Entwürfen: lineaments) of opera.