Wolf-Dieter Hauschild (6 September 1937 – 18 May 2023) was a German conductor, choirmaster, artistic director, composer, harpsichordist and university lecturer.
After working for the East German Berliner Rundfunk from 1971, he was principal conductor of the MDR Leipzig Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Rundfunkchor Leipzig from 1978 to 1985. In 1984 he was still awarded the National Prize of the German Democratic Republic, but in 1985 he fell out with the GDR authorities and moved to the FRG.
In Stuttgart, he was appointed General Music Director and helped the Stuttgart Philharmonic Orchestra there to national recognition. In 1991 he went to Essen, where he was also opera director of the Aalto Theater from 1992 to 1997. In the 2000s he returned to the new states of Germany and conducted the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Halle and the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock. The latter appointed him its honorary conductor in 2004.
Especially with the Berlin and Leipzig radio sound institutions, he brought numerous contemporary works to the world premieres. He also recorded the complete choral works of Johannes Brahms. In Essen he could realize the complete Ring by Wagner.