Composer and educator Friedrich Cerha was one of the most widely honored musical figures in Austria in the second half of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He was closely identified with the perpetuation of the legacy of the Second Viennese School, but his activities extended into many other areas. In 1958, he co-founded Die Reihe, an ensemble that often performed works of Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern. The following year, he began teaching at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna; he became a full professor in 1976 and taught there until 1988. Cerha may be best known for his 1979 completion of Alban Berg's opera Lulu, principally involving his orchestration of the unfinished third act. He was a co-founder of a society honoring tonal composer Joseph Marx. Cerha died in Vienna on February 14, 2023, just three days before his 97th birthday.