|
Born: April 1, 1907 - Charlottenburg, Berlin, Germany
Died: December 25, 1976 - Berlin, Germany |
|
The German choral conductor and radio producer, Günther Arndt, studied at the Akademie für Kirchen- und Schulmusik in Berlin and at the university there.
A choirmaster and lecturer in music at the Berlin Volkshochschule from 1932 to 1940, he also taught music at a secondary school from 1932 to 1934, and was co-founder and conductor of the Berlin Heinrich Schütz Chorale. With the resumption of postwar musical life in Berlin he was appointed head of Berlin radio's chamber music department and from 1949 was a specialist adviser on symphonic music for RIAS. He founded the Berlin Motet Choir in 1950 and was its conductor to 1960, and he was also conductor of the RIAS Chamber Choir from 1955 to 1972. From 1964 until his retirement in 1972 he was deputy head of music for RIAS, and from 1965 he was also music director at Berlin’s Freie und Technische Hochschule.
Günther Arndt gave the RIAS Chamber Choir an international reputation through numerous broadcasts and concert tours; he did much to promote contemporary music, giving many first performances including works by Bialas, Henze, Krenek, Arnold Schoenberg, Genzmer, Milhaud, Reimann and Sakać. Arndt was awarded the Grosse Verdienstkreuz der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in 1971. |
