Volker Hempfling (Conductor)

Born: 1944 - Saarland, Germany

The German conductor, Volker Hempfling, studied in Herford and Köln (church music, Organ, orchestral conducting, voice).

From 1972 to 1985 Volker Hempfling was organist and choir director of the Lutheran Church, in Altenberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, as weIl as director of the ,,Sacred Music” series at Altenberg's cathedral. In 1968 at Altenberg, as director of church music and the Cathedral's choir, Hempfling founded the Kölner Kantorei, specializing in a cappella music of the Romantic and modern periods. With both choirs he has given performances in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Sweden, and Israel. In 1983 he became director of Köln's Gürzenich-Chor. For the centennial of Swiss composer Frank Martin's birth in 1990, Professor Hempfling and all three choirs presented a series of eight concerts devoted exclusively to Martin's music, induding his Golgotha, Requiem, In terra pax, and Mass.

In 1984-1985 Volker Hempfling was recipient of a Deutscher Musikrat fellowship for work with conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch and composer Krzysztof Penderecki. In addition to guest conducting appearances in Germany and elsewhere (e.g., Europa Cantat), he has taught courses in conducting and voice development in Germany, Switzerland, Beiglum, Austria, Slovenia, Spain, and the USA.

Volker Hempfling'S activities as a juror at national and international competitions have taken him to Köln, Darmstadt, Giessen, Regensburg, Marktoberdorf, Budapest, and Vilnius. In 1985 he was appointed to the Musikhochschule (conservatory) of Saarland. Since 1993 he has been professor of choral conducting and director of the Protestant Church Music division. He also conducts the chamber chorus of the Robert Schumann-Hochschule in Düsseldorf.

Source: Kölner Kantorei Website
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (March 2006)

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

As

Works

Volker Hempfling

Conductor

BWV 245

Links to other Sites

The Kölner Kantorei [English/German]

Romanischer Sommer Köln: Biographie Hempfling, Volker (Musik in Köln) [German]