Ekkehard Schreiber

Ekkehard Schreiber (born October 7, 1941 in Gotha ; † March 18, 2008 in Bockwitz (Belgern-Schildau) ) was a German conductor and choir director of the Gewandhaus in Leipzig .

biography

Ekkehard Schreiber received his first musical training in the Bach Choir Eisenach from Erhard Mauersberger . He first studied trombone in Weimar and Berlin , then choir conducting and music education in Halle (Saale) . Since 1964 he has worked as a music teacher and choir and orchestra leader in Bad Langensalza. During this time he brought about a contract between the community orchestra, the choir and the reciter group of the Extended Oberschule Bad Langensalza. In 1971 he went to Leipzig and initially worked there as a music teacher at a polytechnic high school, later also as a choir director. In 1978 he was commissioned by the city of Leipzig to set up a city children's choir. He developed this ensemble into a nationally respected one with high musical standards. In collaboration with the composer Friedrich Schenker, the choir premiered some of Schenker's works.

Gewandhauskapellmeister Kurt Masur appointed Schreiber as director of the Gewandhaus children's choir at the beginning of the 1982/83 season , whereby the children's choir he founded received this name, while the previous Gewandhaus children's choir became the municipal children's choir. On November 19, 1983, Ekkehard Schreiber and the Gewandhaus Children's Choir delivered congratulations in the form of a performance on the 20th anniversary of the Bad Langensalza Community Orchestra. Political tensions between Schreiber and the city of Leipzig were also decisive for the choir swap. In the following years, Schreiber developed the choir (temporarily mixed-voice children and youth choir) into an internationally known and respected ensemble. In 1988 the choir received the Leipzig City Art Prize. Under Schreiber's direction, the choir made numerous guest appearances abroad, and after reunification also toured the old federal states. The children's choir recorded a large number of sound carriers under his direction or rehearsals. At the beginning of the 1992/1993 season, Schreiber became the choir director and also took over the leadership of the Gewandhaus Choir . However, working with the children's choir remained his priority. In 1997 he had to give up his job due to a circulatory disease. Although he initially continued to work in certain areas of the choir, he gradually turned away from the Gewandhaus.

In Bockwitz he began to build a “culture barn”, in which various cultural events such as concerts took place, and for a short time led the Hamburg Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Choir. This part of his life is documented in the 2001 documentary “Das geliebte Moll” by Leipzig director Philipp J. Neumann.

Web links

• Literature by and about Ekkehard Schreiber in the catalog of the German National Library
• "The beloved minor". A film by Philipp J. Neumann . The history of the Bad Langensalza orchestra community by Dr. Hans Berger