Wolfgang Helbich (Conductor)

Born: Berlin, Germany

The German conductor, Wolfgang Helbich, studied sacred and school music at the Berlin and Detmold academies.

Wolfgang Helbich founded the Alsfelder Vokalensemble in 1971, after having been appointed choir director in Alsfeld in 1969, his first such position, and still continues to serve as music director of the ensemble. He moved to the Grünewald Church in Berlin in 1972 and assumed the directorship of the Berliner Kantorei. His appointment as music director at St. Peter’s Cathedral in Bremen came in 1976. His duties included the conducting of the Bremen Cathedral Choir, a choir with a rich musical tradition and the first to perform Johannes Brahms’ German Requiem (under C.M. Reinthaler in 1868).

Wolfgang Helbich has made numerous recordings since 1974, most of them with Alsfelder Vokalensemble and three of which have been awarded the German Record Prize or German record Critics Prize. As a conductor and as an organist he has been involved in broadcasts on almost all the member stations of the ARD (German Radio Network). He has appeared as a guest conductor together with the NDR Chor, the RIAS-Kammerchor, and the Münchener Bach-Chor.

Wolfgang Helbich has also distinguished himself as an editor of choral and organ music and was appointed Professor of Choral Conducting at the Bremen Academy of the Arts in February 1991.

Source: Liner notes to the CD ‘The Apocryphal Bach Motets’, conducted by Wolfgang Helbich (CPO, 1994)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (May 2001)

Wolfgang Helbich: Short Biography | Alsfelder Vokalensemble | Barockorchester Bremen | Recordings of Vocal Works

Links to other Sites

Prof. Wolfgang Helbich - Domkantor und Leitender Kirchenmusiker (St. Petri Dom Bremen) [German]