Silke Löhr

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Silke Löhr (* 1966 in Berlin ) is a German conductor , orchestra and choir director . She studied music in Cologne and Utrecht and learned from Sir Simon Rattle OM CBE , Kurt Masur , Eric Ericson , Ton Koopman and others. In 1987 she founded the Symphony Orchestra of the Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf , and in 1989 the university choir of the Heinrich Heine University. Since then she has steadily expanded both projects; since 2003 she has been the official Academic Music Director of the University of Düsseldorf.

Education and career

From 1986 Löhr studied school music at the Cologne University of Music . At the beginning of the third semester, in December 1987, she founded the HHU University Orchestra in Düsseldorf . The symphony orchestra was very popular; around 50 musicians were already represented at the first concert on July 7, 1988. In 1989 a student choir was founded, which Löhr also took over. The choir (today consisting of over 100 singers) presented its repertoire at regular concerts from its founding semester. It was not uncommon for orchestras and choirs (own spelling: UNICHOR ) to give concerts together. As an orchestra and choir director, Löhr discovered her passion for conducting and subsequently took numerous courses at home and abroad in order to do justice to the new task and to constantly improve her qualifications.

While studying, she attended master classes in orchestral conducting with Sir Simon Rattle OM CBE , Kurt Masur and Jorma Panula , in choral conducting with Eric Ericson and Helmut Rilling, in early music with Ton Koopman and in new music with Peter Eötvös . After studying conducting , she began a second degree in orchestral conducting in Utrecht ( Netherlands ), 200 kilometers away , from which she graduated with distinction. She then passed her concert exam there . After she had already taken courses with Sir Simon Rattle, he let her sit in for some time at rehearsals with the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra .

For many years she was a scholarship holder of the Conductors Forum at the German Music Council, which involved concerts with various professional orchestras in Germany. Further conducting engagements have taken her to the Komische Oper Berlin ( La Bohème ), the Oldenburgische Staatstheater ( Die Entführung aus dem Serail ), the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra , the Radio Symfonie Orkest and the Radio Kamer Orkest of the Netherlands Broadcasting, the State Orchestra Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz and the Bergische Symphoniker . She produced world premieres for Westdeutscher Rundfunk with the WDR Symphony Orchestra and musikFabrik NRW. From 2003 to 2005 she was assistant to the Dutch Radio Symphony Orchestra (“Radio Filharmonisch Orkest Holland”) in Hilversum . With the Bergische Symphoniker she conducted numerous concerts as a scholarship holder of the orchestra academy in the 1999/2000 season. In 1999 the state of North Rhine-Westphalia awarded her the Music Prize. In addition to working with professional ensembles, she continued to work frequently for ambitious amateur ensembles. In 2004 the symphonic wind orchestra "Orchesterverein Hilgen" emerged as the best German wind orchestra in the competition of the German Music Council. For several years she was the conductor of the choir and orchestra of the University of Essen and of the symphony orchestra "Junge Sinfonie Köln".

Interior of the Tonhalle Düsseldorf

She continued her first projects, orchestras and choirs from the Düsseldorf universities, almost without interruption, and since 1987 she has steadily expanded the musical life of the University of Düsseldorf. In recognition of her services as a conductor at Heinrich Heine University, but also the associated work of the choir and orchestra as musical ambassadors for her university, its rector, Gert Kaiser , awarded the title of Academic Music Director in 2003 . Most repertoire in larger churches North Rhine-Westphalia is presented several times were choir and orchestra also already in the Tonhalle to hear the state capital. Every year, the choir and orchestra take turns on larger concert tours: in 2016 the university orchestra gave concerts in Spain, most recently in 2017 the university choir visited the East Asian countries of South Korea and Japan for seven concerts. A film documentation of the three-week Asian tour directed by Tobias Kemper will premiere on February 10, 2019. The current semester program will be jointly designed by the choir and orchestra for the 30th anniversary of the university choir and performed in January / February 2019. It includes Mozart's Requiem and Lili Boulanger's Psaume 130: Du fond de l'abîme . With a revision of the previous UNICHOR semester program Kiss Me! The choir and orchestra were also guests at the Düsseldorf Opera House in December 2018 .

Private life

Löhr has two sons (* 2009 and 2013). After the birth of her second child, she took two years of parental leave . Mathias Staut (* 1983 in Zweibrücken ), who also studied school music and conducting as well as church music , took over the management of her Düsseldorf ensembles during her absence.

Discography

  • 2011: Verdi : Requiem (double CD) - concert recording, January 28, 2011, Tonhalle Düsseldorf , UNICHOR and HHU University Orchestra
  • 2012: Mendelssohn : Paulus (double CD) - concert recording, June 29, 2012, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, UNICHOR and HHU University Orchestra
  • 2014: Christmas Oratorio I – III - concert recording, January 11, 2014, Xanten Cathedral , UNICHOR
  • 2014: Carl Orff : Carmina Burana - concert recording 25 years of UNICHOR , February 8, 2014, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, UNICHOR and HHU University Orchestra
  • 2014: German choral music. From the Renaissance to the Modern Age - concert recording, June 29, 2014, Neanderkirche Düsseldorf , UNICHOR
  • 2015: Jul * - concert recording, January 11, 2015, St. Peter Church Düsseldorf , UNICHOR
  • 2015: Magic Scotland - concert recording, February 7th, 2015, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, HHU University Orchestra
  • 2015: Ludwig van Beethoven : Symphony No. 9 in D minor - concert recording, June 20, 2015, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, UNICHOR and HHU University Orchestra
  • 2016: Shining Night - concert recording, July 5, 2016, Kreuzkirche Neuss-Gnadental , UNICHOR
  • 2017: Arthur Honegger : King David - concert recording, February 11, 2017, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, UNICHOR and HHU University Orchestra
  • 2018: reborn - concert recording, January 7, 2018, Kreuzkirche Neuss-Gnadental, UNICHOR
  • 2018: Witches' Sabbath: anniversary concert 30 years of the university orchestra (double CD) - concert recording, 2nd / 3rd February 2018, Stadthalle Ratingen / Tonhalle Düsseldorf, University Orchestra of the HHU
  • 2018: 30 years of the University Orchestra: Brahms, 1st Symphony - concert recording, July 13, 2018, City Hall Ratingen , HHU University Orchestra
  • 2018: kiss me! Songs of love from the Bible and opera - concert recording, June 29, 2018, Kreuzkirche Neuss-Gnadental, UNICHOR

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Asia, we are coming! - Article on the HHUD University website from October 15, 2017, accessed on December 8, 2017.
  2. ↑ Film premiere “Symphony of Voices” , article on the UNICHOR website, accessed on December 27, 2018.
  3. ↑ UNICHOR homepage , accessed on December 27, 2018.
  4. ^ Biography of Mathias Staut on his professional website, accessed on December 8, 2017.
  5. ↑ a b Summer concerts by the university orchestra and university choir of the HHU Article on the university website , accessed on December 27, 2018.
personal data
SURNAME Löhr, Silke
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German conductor, orchestra and choir director
DATE OF BIRTH 1966
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin