Michael Schmutte (Choral Conductor)

Born: 1960 - Damme, Lower Saxony, Germany

The German choral conductor, Michael Schmutte, studied church music in Graz, Vienna and Bremen and received a diploma at the Hochschule der Künste Bremen. Later, he attended a supplementary course for graduate music therapists at the University of Münster. He completed his choral conducting studies (including with Professor Erwin Ortner, Vienna) by participating in numerous courses with figures like Eric Ericson, Frieder Bernius, Johannes Prinz, Gerd Frischmuth, Vladimir Tschernenko and others.

During his over 13-year career in Delmenhorst, Michael Schmutte was also the founder and director of the Oratorienchor Delmenhorst, with whom he has performed regularly, beside a-cappella programs, great oratorio works. In his projects he has conducted the Hamburger Symphoniker, the Radiophilharmonie Hannover des NDR, the Philharmonische Staatsorchester Bremen and others.

Particularly influential was the time he spent with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Arnold-Schönberg-Chor in Vienna. Michael Schmutte sat consistently their findings on the historical performance practice in the co-operation with various instrumental ensembles in the field of early music (e.g. Barockorchester Hamburg, Barockorchester L’Arco Hannover, Norddeutsches Barockorchester).

Michael Schmutte operated for several years in the role as a lecturer in choral conducting and voice training in the church music C-level training at the Hochschule Vechta. Other faculty activities in the area followed by voice training / voice physiology at the University of Münster and at the Fachhochschule Münster. Since 1998 he has been a church musician at the Herz Jesu & St. Elisabeth in Münster, and a teacher of church music at the Episcopal church.

In 2000 Michael Schmutte founded the chamber choir Canticum Novum in Münster. In 2005 was invited as a guest conductor to the Städtischen Bühnen Münster, where he performed Felix Mendelssohn's Paulus with the Sinfonieorchester Münster and the Chor des Musikvereins/Konzertchor. Also in 2005, he founded a new community choir, the Kammerchor an der Herz-Jesu-Kirche Münster, a 60-member ensemble, which performs in worship, as well as oratorios, such as Mozart's Requiem in November 2006, F. Mendelssohn's Elias in autumn 2007.

Source: Canticum Novum Website, English translation by Aryeh Oron (April 2009)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (April 2009)

Michael Schmutte: Short Biography | Canticum Novum | Recordings of Vocal Works

Links to other Sites

Canticum Novum: Leiter - Michael Schmutte [German]