Wolfgang Helbich (church musician)

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Wolfgang Helbich (born April 8, 1943 in Berlin ; † April 8, 2013 in Kassel ) was a German conductor , professor and church musician .

biography

Wolfgang Helbich studied school and church music at the music academies in Berlin and Detmold . In 1969 he became cantor in Alsfeld . In 1971 he founded the Alsfeld vocal ensemble , of which he was artistic director until his death. In 1972 Helbich moved to the Grunewald Church in Berlin; the management of the Berlin Kantorei was connected to this position. In 1976 he was appointed as the successor to Hans Heintze as the leading church musician and cathedral choirmaster at Bremen's St. Petri Cathedral and as director of the Bremen cathedral choir . He held this position until his retirement in summer 2008, when Tobias Gravenhorst took over his position . The main focus of Helbich's artistic work at Bremen Cathedral was the performance of oratorios from the 18th and 19th centuries. The idea he conceived of a music night in honor of a selected composer became a permanent fixture every year. From 1999 to 2013 Wolfgang Helbich was also the artistic director of the Bielefeld City Music Association , numerous concerts, especially in Bielefeld's Rudolf-Oetker-Halle , were performed under his direction.

Since 1974 Helbich has played numerous award-winning records and CDs with the Alsfeld Vocal Ensemble and the Bremen Cathedral Choir. Guest conductors and concert invitations have taken him all over Europe, the USA as well as Japan and Israel . He was the editor of partly unpublished choir and organ literature . As a professor of choral conducting, he taught at the University of the Arts in Bremen and (from 1995 to 1996) as a visiting professor at the Saar University of Music in Saarbrücken .

After his retirement, Wolfgang Helbich was director of the Bremen RathsChores , which was founded in 2008 by former members of the Bremen Cathedral Choir. Together with the RathsChor in Bremen, he developed challenging choral literature at a high level. The performances were broadcast regularly by Radio Bremen and Deutschlandradio Kultur . For many years the former mayor of Bremen Henning Scherf was chairman of the Freundeskreis Bremer RathsChor e. V. Jan Hübner became the new director of the Alsfeld vocal ensemble and the Bremen RathsChores .

Awards

Helbich was awarded the German Record Critics' Prize for his performance Ein deutsches Requiem by Johannes Brahms with the Bremen Cathedral Choir and the Bremen Chamber Symphony , which was released on CD by MDG in 2002.

Discography (selection)

  • Johann Stamitz : Missa solemnis in D major for soli, choir and orchestra. cpo music production , Georgsmarienhütte 1998.
  • Jubilate deodorant. Polygram, Hamburg 1998.
  • Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy : Elias. Hilger Kespohl, Bünde 1999.
  • Georg Alfred Schumann : Sacred music of the late romanticism. Horst Brauner, Berlin 1999.
  • Joseph von Eybler : Christmas oratorio (The shepherds at the manger in Bethlehem). cpo music production, Georgsmarienhütte 1999.
  • Johannes Brahms: A German Requiem. Musikproduktion Dabringhaus & Grimm (MDG), Detmold 2002 ( German Record Critics' Prize ).
  • Karl Martin Reinthaler : Jephta and his daughter. cpo music production, Georgsmarienhütte 2004.
  • Christmas in Bremen Cathedral. cpo music production, Georgsmarienhütte 2006.
  • The Sacred Apocryphal Bach. Cantatas, masses, motets. cpo music production, Georgsmarienhütte 1992–2012.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b c Sabine Doll: Mourning Wolfgang Helbich. The former cathedral choirmaster and director of the Raths Choir died unexpectedly at the age of 70. Weser-Kurier , April 9, 2013, p. 9.
  2. ↑ taz November 4, 2006.
  3. ↑ epd report December 22, 2006.
  4. ^ Weser Kurier April 18, 2013.
personal data
SURNAME Helbich, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German church musician
DATE OF BIRTH April 8, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin
DATE OF DEATH April 8, 2013
Place of death kassel