Herbert Böck (Conductor)

Born: Austria

The Austrian conductor (and former boy soprano), Herbert Böck, received his first musical education as a member of the Wiener Sängerknabe. As soprano soloist he appeared in early Bach Cantatas recordings with Nikolaus Harnoncourt. He studied oboe, conducting and composition at the Vienna Academy of Music.

In his capacity as artistic director of the Concentus Vocalis Wien, Herbert Böck achieved early recognition and international awards at international competitions. In 1989 he was appointed chief conductor of the Vienna Jeunesse Orchestra and since then has made numerous concerts as well as broadcasts for radio and TV with the orchestra. In 1989-1998 he was artistic director of the Wiener Singakademie with regular conducting commitments at the Vienna Konzerthaus. In 1995 he was also appointed professor at the Salzburg Academy of Music Mozarteum.

Herbert Böck's career as an orchestral conductor, which started in 1987, has led to co-operation with orchestras such as the Wind Ensemble of the Vienna Philharmonic, the Wiener Kammerorchester, the Academy St. Michael (Vienna), the Wiener Akademie, the Mozarteum Orchestra (Salzburg) and the Tonkünstlerorchester of Lower Austria. He has conducted at such prominent festivals as the Wiener Festwochen, Wien Modern, Klangbogen Wien and the Styrian Autumn. Among the important symphonic-choral works that he has conducted at the Vienna Konzerthaus are Bittner's Große Messe and Te Deum, Arthur Honegger's oratorio Le Roi David, Orff's Carmina Burana, J.S. Bach's St. John Passion (BWV 245), Kagel's St. Bach-Passion and a series of Händel oratorios including Jephta, The Messiah, Solomon and Judas Maccabeus.

Numerous concert tours have taken Herbert Böck in the past years to Italy, Spain, France, Germany, the Netherlands, England, the Czech Republic, Slovenia, Hungary, Greece and Israel. He has conducted concerts with the Orchestra di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Brno Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the orchestra of the Oslo Opera House, the WDR-Choir Cologne, the Rundfunkchor Berlin, the Rundfunkorchester Stuttgart and the Rundfunkorchester Budapest.

In 1997 Herbert Böck made his debut with the Norske Opera in Oslo, and in 1998 with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. He returned to the orchestra for J.S. Bach's B Minor Mass (BWV 232) in 2000, which he also conducted with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra and the Malmö Symphony Orchestra. He has also established a highly successful relationship with the Norske Opera, with regular reinvitations, including a production of Die Zauberflöte. In April 2001 he conducted that ensemble in two acclaimed performances of George Frideric Handel's Jephta.

Source: R&B Artista Website
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (November 2004)

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

As

Works

Ludwig Güttler

Chorus Master

BWV 191, BWV 248

Nikolaus Harnoncourt

Boy Soprano

BWV 30

Links to other Sites

Herbert Böck - Dirigen/Conductor (R&B Artists) [German/English
Herbert Böck (Concentus Vocalis) [German]

HERBERT BÖCK (Moz) [German]
Quotes from Herbert Böck (UCSC)