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Helmuth Rilling | |
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.jpg) Rilling in 2013 | |
| Born | (1933-05-29)29 May 1933 (age 92) Stuttgart, Germany |
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| Awards | Herbert von Karajan Music Prize |
Helmuth Rilling (born 29 May 1933) is a German choral conductor and an academic teacher. He is the founder of theGächinger Kantorei (1954), theBach-Collegium Stuttgart (1965), theOregon Bach Festival (1970),[1] theInternationale Bachakademie Stuttgart (1981) and other Bach Academies worldwide, as well as the "Festival Ensemble Stuttgart" (2001) and the "Junges Stuttgarter Bach Ensemble" (2011). He taught choral conducting at theFrankfurt Musikhochschule from 1965 to 1989 and led theFrankfurter Kantorei from 1969 to 1982.
Rilling was born into a musical family. He received his early training at the Protestant Seminaries inWürttemberg. From 1952 to 1955 he studied organ, composition, and choral conducting at the Stuttgart College of Music. He completed his studies withFernando Germani inRome and at theAccademia Musicale Chigiana inSiena.
While still a student in 1954, he founded his first choir, theGächinger Kantorei. Starting in 1957, he was organist and choirmaster at the Stuttgart Gedächtniskirche, conducting the choirFiguralchor der Gedächtniskirche Stuttgart. From 1963 to 1966, he taught organ and choral at theSpandauer Kirchenmusikschule, conducting theSpandauer Kantorei (Spandau chorale).
In 1967, he studied withLeonard Bernstein in New York and in the same year was appointed professor of choral conducting at theFrankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts, a post that he held until 1985. In 1969, Rilling took over as conductor of theFrankfurter Kantorei (Frankfurt Choir). Since 1965, he has conducted theBach-Collegium Stuttgart, which often performs with theGächinger Kantorei. He has toured widely with both ensembles.
He is well known for his performances of the music ofJohann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries. Rilling is the first person to have twice prepared and recorded (on modern instruments) the complete choral works of J. S. Bach, a monumental task involving well over 1,000 pieces of music - spanning 170 compact discs. He has also recorded many romantic and classical choral and orchestral works, including the works ofJohannes Brahms. In 1988, Rilling conducted the world premiere of theMessa per Rossini that he also conducted at theRheingau Musik Festival in 2001, where he has traditionally conducted the final concert.[2]
Rilling co-founded theOregon Bach Festival in 1970, and served as its artistic director until 2013.[3] He also co-founded and led theInternationale Bachakademie Stuttgart since 1981. In 2001, Rilling created the Festival Ensemble to be part of the European Music Festival Stuttgart ("Musikfest Stuttgart").[2] Rilling became the Festival Conductor and lecturer at the Toronto Bach Festival in 2004.
Rilling was a teacher of chorale conducting at theFrankfurt Musikhochschule from 1965 to 1989.
Rilling's recording of Krzysztof Penderecki'sCredo, commissioned and performed by theOregon Bach Festival, won the 2001Grammy Award for best choral performance. He received theBach Medal in 2004.[4] In 2008, Rilling was awarded the Sanford Award by theYale School of Music atYale University. He was the 2011 recipient of theHerbert von Karajan Music Prize.
For Rilling's 75th birthday, his record labelHänssler Classic released his entire Bach edition on iTunes.
