Helmuth Rilling | |
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.jpg) Rilling in 2013 | |
| Born | (1933-05-29)29 May 1933 Stuttgart, Germany |
| Died | 11 February 2026(2026-02-11) (aged 92) Leonberg, Germany |
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Helmuth Rilling (29 May 1933 – 11 February 2026) was a German choral conductor and an academic teacher who was internationally known as an authority on the music of J. S. Bach. He was the founder of theGächinger Kantorei in 1954 when still a student, theBach-Collegium Stuttgart in 1965, theOregon Bach Festival in 1970, theInternationale Bachakademie Stuttgart in 1981 and other Bach Academies worldwide, as well as the Festival Ensemble Stuttgart (FES) in 2001 and Junges Stuttgarter Bach Ensemble in 2011. He taught choral conducting at theFrankfurt Musikhochschule from 1965 to 1989 and led theFrankfurter Kantorei from 1969 to 1982. He held talk concerts, introducing the music with the performers, internationally, including Eastern Europe early.
In 1985, Rilling was the first to have recorded Bach's complete church cantatas, and recordings of Bach's complete works were issued by 2000. He performed the world premiere of theMessa per Rossini (which Verdi had initiated upon the death of Rossini) in 1988. He recorded 20th-century works such as Honegger'sJeanne d'Arc au bûcher and Penderecki'sCredo, the latter commissioned and performed by theOregon Bach Festival and winning the 2001Grammy Award for best choral performance. He continued to lead the Gächinger Kantorei and the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart until 2013.
Rilling was born on 29 May 1933 inStuttgart[1][2] into a musical family;[1] his father was organist and music teacher, and his mother a violinist.[3] Rilling attended school at Protestant seminaries inWürttemberg where he received musical and theological training. After his Abitur atStift Urach [de] in 1952, he studied at theMusikhochschule Stuttgart, organ with Karl Gerock, composition withJohann Nepomuk David and chorale conducting withHans Grischkat. After his state exam in 1955, he studied further, withFernando Germani in Rome and at theAccademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena.[1]
While still a student in 1954, he founded his first choir, theGächinger Kantorei.[4][5] Starting in 1957, he was organist and choirmaster at the Stuttgart Gedächtniskirche where he conducted the choirFiguralchor der Gedächtniskirche Stuttgart[1] and was instrumental in the building of a newWalcker organ.[6] From 1963 to 1966, he taught organ and choral at theSpandauer Kirchenmusikschule, conducting the Spandauer Kantorei.[7] He founded and conducted theBach-Collegium Stuttgart from 1965, which often performed with the Gächinger Kantorei.[4] In 1967, he took a course in conducting withLeonard Bernstein in New York City,[1] who became a model for introducing the music to be performed.[3]
In 1969 Rilling was appointed professor of choral conducting at theFrankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts, a post that he held until 1985.[2] His students includeHans-Christoph Rademann,[8]Matthias Manasi [de][9] andEberhard Friedrich [de].[10] In 1969, Rilling also took over as conductor of theFrankfurter Kantorei.[11]
Rilling became well known for his performances of the music ofJohann Sebastian Bach, touring widely with the Gächinger Kantorei and the Bach Collegium Stuttgart[12] and often introducing the music in talk concerts.[13] The talks included music examples by all performers, making the music accessibly to all listeners because specialist terminology was "translated" immediately into sounds.[3] Rilling co-founded theOregon Bach Festival in 1970,[14] and served as its artistic director until 2013.[15] Also in 1970, he was the first German conductor to conduct theIsrael Philharmonic Orchestra.[13] He held talk concerts early also in Eastern Europe, and conducted Bach'sMass in B minor in an open-air-concert at theDresden Zwinger before German Reunification.[4] He was an ambassador bringing Bach's music to foreign countries towards better understanding. The Polish composerKrzysztof Penderecki became his friend.[3]
Rilling co-founded and led theInternationale Bachakademie Stuttgart in 1981,[13] offering seminars, lectures, open rehearsals, master classes, workshops and concerts.[3] In 1988, he conducted the world premiere of theMessa per Rossini;[4] he also conducted the work at theRheingau Musik Festival in 2001, where he traditionally led the final concert.[16] In 2001, Rilling created the Festival Ensemble to be part of the European Music Festival Stuttgart.[16] Rilling became the festival conductor and lecturer at the Toronto Bach Festival in 2004. He continued to lead the Gächinger Kantorei and the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart until 2013,[17] and retired from conducting concerts in 2018.[13]
Rilling died inLeonberg on 11 February 2026, at the age of 92.[12][13][17][18] Gerald Felber, writing for theFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, characterised Rilling firstly as a mediator, adding "persistent, determined and with stamina".[4]
Rilling was the first conductor to record Bach's complete church cantatas, from 1970 to 1985. During this time,historically informed performances began and flourished; he was interested and reacted by more dynamic interpretation, but remained with traditional instruments.[3][4] He recorded the complete works of Bach by 2000 in theEdition Bachakademie [de], a monumental task involving over 1,000 pieces of music – spanning 172 compact discs.[2][13] He also recorded many classical and romantic choral and orchestral works, including the works byJohannes Brahms.[13] While most of his recording output was of works of Bach and other Baroque composers, he did champion and record works of contemporary composers. Rilling's recording of Penderecki'sCredo, commissioned and performed by theOregon Bach Festival, won the2001 Grammy Award forbest choral performance.[19] He received theBach Medal in 2004.[20] Another example of his recording 20th century works was Honegger'sJeanne d'Arc au bûcher (Hänssler Classic, 2013).[17]
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.[21]
For Rilling's 75th birthday, the record label Hänssler Classic released his entire Bach edition on iTunes.[22]
