Florian Helgath is emerging as one of the leading choral conductors of the young generation. Since 2011 Florian Helgath has been Artistic Director of the Chorwerk Ruhr. Since 2017 he is also Artistic Director of the Zürcher Sing-Akademie. With these vocal ensembles he creates choir music of all periods on the highest level both in A cappella and with orchestras.
Florian Helgath has held the position as conductor of the Danish National Choir from 2009 to 2015. In addition he was Artistic Director of the Via Nova Choir Munich from 2008 to 2016. With this ensemble he has conducted numerous acclaimed first performances and has been awarded with international prizes.
Florian Helgath is also a regular guest conductor of the SWR Vokalensemble, RIAS Kammerchor, MDR Leipzig Radio Choir, Choir of the Bavarian Radio, Vocalconsort Berlin, Netherlands Radio Choir, Choeur de Radio France, Flemish Radio Choir, Norwegian Soloists’ Choir, Warsaw Philharmonic Choir among others and collaborates with orchestras as Concerto Köln, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, B’Rock Orchestra, Orchestra La Scintilla, Brussels Philharmonic, Münchner Rundfunkorchester, WDR Funkhausorchester, Münchner Symphoniker, Bochumer Symphoniker, Dortmunder Philharmoniker, Berner Kammerorchester, Odense Symphony, Danish Chamber Orchestra and Ensemble Resonanz.
Concerts led him to major concert halls and festivals as the Berliner Festspiele, Schwetzingen Festival, Audi Summer Concerts, Eclat Festival Stuttgart, Thüringer Bachwochen and particularly to the Ruhrtriennale with contemporary opera performances and numerous manifold projects. In addition to A cappella projects, Florian Helgath's focus is increasingly on performances of choral and symphonic repertoire.
Upcoming highlights include guest conducting with the RIAS Kammerchor, Stavanger Symphony & Chorus, Aarhus Symphony & Chorus, Hungarian Radio Choir, South Denmark Philharmonic & Choir, Choeur de Radio France, concerts with Chorwerk Ruhr at Muziekgebouw Amsterdam und deSingel Antwerp among others.
Florian Helgath’s discography includes a number of prize-winning recordings as Praetorius & Italy with RIAS Kammerchor, Capella de la Torre for Sony Classical/deutsche harmonia mundi, Mozart Requiem (version Michael Ostrzyga 2019), Brahms Requiem (piano version) with Chorwerk Ruhr for Coviello Classics, the album Sacred Songs with works by J.S. Bach, Reger, Knut Nystedt with MDR Leipzig Radio Choir, (ICMA Award 2017), Da Pacem: Echo der Reformation with RIAS Kammerchor and Capella de la Torre (ECHO Klassik 2017), Three choirs A cappella by Walter Furrer with Zürcher Sing-Akademie at SRF2 Kultur, music by Palestrina and Wagner with MDR Leipzig Radio Choir, J.S. Mayr Missa in c – Stabat Mater with Orpheus Vokalensemble and Concerto Köln as well as Contemporary A A cappella music with Via Nova Chor. The recording of Tigran Mansurian's Requiem with RIAS Kammerchor prepared by Florian Helgath and the Munich Chamber Orchestra for ECM Records had been nominated for a Grammy in 2018.
In October 2020 Florian Helgath has been appointed as professor at the University of Music and Dance in Cologne, where he teaches choral conducting in Bachelor and Master programmes.
Florian Helgath’s initial experience started as a chorister in his native city with the Regensburger Domspatzen. He studied choral conducting at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich and graduated in 2008 with a Masters Degree. Among his most important teachers are Michael Gläser, Stefan Parkman, Dan-Olof Stenlund who influenced him largely in his career as conductor.
As a prizewinner and finalist of the Eric Ericson Award 2006 and Competition for Young Choral Conductors in Budapest 2007, Florian Helgath had drawn the attention of the international choral music scene.
Season 2021/22
Read moreFor the two albums Mozart: Requiem with Chorwerk Ruhr, Concerto Köln and soloists for Coviello Records as well as
Praetorius & Italy with RIAS Kammerchor and Capella de la Torre for deutsche harmonia mundi Florian Helgath has been nominated for OPUS KLASSIK in the category choir music. The award presentation will take place at Konzerthaus Berlin on 10 October.
Read moreFlorian Helgath conducts the Zürcher Sing-Akademie with music by Alfred Schnittke, Josef Rheinberger, Charles Hubert Parry, Knut Nystedt, Giuseppe di Bianco
and Burkhard Kinzler on 11 June, 19:30 at Rheinau Klosterkirche. The video is available afterwards yet. Here the link: https://www.sing-akademie.ch/concerts.php
Read moreOn 5 February Florian Helgath premieres three A cappella pieces by Edward Rushton, Arkadiusz Katny and John Psathas with Zürcher Sing-Akademie in Zürich, Kirche an der Egg.
Florian Helgath conducts Bach's St. John Passion with Gulbenkian Orchestra & Choir and soloists in Lisbon in three concerts on 12, 13 and 14 March.
On 29 April Florian Helgath directs the Hungarian Radio Choir in Budapest in an A cappella concert featuring music by J.S. Bach, Schütz, Brahms, Cornelius, Reger and Rheinberger.
On 21 October Florian Helgath is at the rostrum of Stavanger Symphony & Chorus to conduct Carl Orff: Carmina Burana.
Florian Helgath conducts the Aarhus Symphony & Choirs on 9 December with the world premiere of Thomas Agerfeldt-Olesens' Christmas Oratorio (soloist: Peter Lodahl, tenor) and J.S. Bach's Orchestral Suite No. 3.
Florian Helgath is at the rostrum of Bochum Symphony and Chorwerk Ruhr in Bochum on 31 October and in Essen on 1 November to conduct Brahms: Nänie and Fauré: Requiem with Anna Feith, soprano and Ludwig Mittelhammer, baritone.
Florian Helgath conducts Mendelssohn: Elias with Chorwerk Ruhr, Concerto Köln and soloists within the Ruhrtriennale at Bochum Jahrhunderthalle on 9 and 10 September.
Florian Helgath lately conducted Carl Orff's Carmina Burana in the version for choir, two pianos, percussion and soloists with the Zürcher Sing-Akademie. View the
video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIcFkSgrdiU
Read moreWatch the Florian Helgath, Zürcher Sing-Akademie and Orchestra La Scintilla with "Handel in Rome" here: https://youtu.be/JfuKqvqGqOw. The programme features Dixit Dominus, Laudate pueri and excerpts from Messiah.
Florian Helgath conducts the South Denmark Philharmonic & Chorus and soloists in Sonderborg on 17 and 18 December in J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio, cantatas I-III.
Coviello Classics has released another album of Florian Helgath, Chorwerk Ruhr, Concerto Köln and soloists with Mozart's Requiem in the version of Michael Ostrzyga (2019) in June 2020.
Florian Helgath talks about Mendelssohn's Elias: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwwD7z6y6eU
Florian Helgath conducts the Netherlands Radio Choir in Groningen on 6 March with Brahms' A German Requiem (version for choir, soprano, baritone and piano duo).
On 9 February Florian Helgath conducts The Norwegian Soloists' Choir in Oslo. The programmes features music by Brahms, Thomas Jennefelt, Hugo Wolf and Mauricio Kagel.
Florian Helgath conducts J.S. Bach's Christmas Oratorio, cantatas 1-6 with Chorwerk Ruhr, B'Rock Orchestra and soloists in Essen, Alicante and Madrid on 13, 17 and 18 December.
Florian Helgath, ChorWerk Ruhr and Duisburg Philharmonic perform two concerts at Ruhrtriennale in Gladbeck on 31 August and 1 September with Luciano Berio's Coro and Alessandro Striggio's Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno.
Florian Helgath conducts the RIAS Kammerchor at Istanbul International Music Festival in two concerts on 12 June with music by J.S. Bach, Vivaldi and Händel together with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin as well as on 14 June with an A cappella programme by Brahms.
Florian Helgath conducts two concerts with Zürcher Sing-Akademie, orchestra and soloists in Winterthur and Zürich on 8 and 10 May presenting Schubert's Mass E flat major and Fritz Stüssi's oratorio Vergehen und Auferstehen.
Florian Helgath conducts ChorWerk Ruhr in the Opening concert of the vocal festival Chor@Berlin on 21 February featuring the programme „The Sound of Silence“.
Deutschlandfunk Kultur broadcasts the concert live at 20:00 (CET). https://www.deutschlandfunkkultur.de/konzert.1090.de.html?drbm:date=2019-02-21
Read moreFlorian Helgath conducts the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir in an A capella programme in Leipzig on 25 January featuring Hans Schanderl's Gitanjali No. 100, Einojuhani Rautavaara's The Cathedral as well as Charles Hubert Parry's "Songs of Farewell".
Florian Helgath conducts the WDR Funkhausorchester and ChorWerk Ruhr in the advent concert of the county North Rhine-Westphalia at Aachen cathedral on 15 December
with music by Georg Friedrich Händel, Jakob Arcadelt and Johannes Brahms. WDR television broadcasts the concert live at 20:15-21:45 (CET):
Read moreFlorian Helgath gives his debut with Flemish Radio Choir & Brussels Philharmonic in Brussels on 16 November with A cappella and orchestral works by Boulanger, Holst, Parry, Debussy, Elgar, Reger among others.
Florian Helgath conducts Isabel Mundry's Mouhanad with the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart within the opening concert of Donaueschingen festival on 19 October. SWR2
broadcasts the concert live at 20:03 (CET): https://www.swr.de/swr2/programm/sendungen/jetztmusik/fr-19/-/id=659442/did=22411560/nid=659442/sdpgid=1616396/1tnp6fr/index.html
Read moreFlorian Helgath conducts ChorWerk Ruhr and continuo ensemble at Ruhrtriennale in three concerts with music by J.S. Bach and Mauricio Kagel's Chorbuch (including J.S. Bach chorals) in Essen on 21, 22 and 23 September.
Florian Helgath conducts the Bavarian Radio Choir in Munich Prinzregententheater on 24 February with music by Domenico Scarlatti, J.S. Bach, Ildebrando Pizzetti and Frank Martin accompanied by an organ, a lute and a violone.
Florian Helgath, ChorWerk Ruhr and soloists perform Rossini's Petite Messe Solennelle in Antwerp on 9 February and Essen on 11 February.
Florian Helgath conducts the Choir of Warsaw Philharmonic in Warsaw on 12 and 13 January presenting Francis Poulenc's Sept Chansons, Bohuslav Martinu's
The Romance of the Dandelions (soloist: Ingrida Gapova, soprano) and Brahms' Liebeslieder Walzer op. 52 and op. 65 (with piano duo Adrienne Soos and Ivo Haag). The concert on 13 January, 18:00 will be broadcasted live: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqYo9MVWYS4pAih0-vdk96A
Read moreFlorian Helgath conducts the Netherlands Radio Choir in Utrecht on 22 December within a christmas concert (first part) with music by J.S. Bach, Henrik Andriessen, Bruckner and Mendelssohn. NPO Radio 4 broadcasts the concert live at 20:15, www.nporadio4.nl/live.
Florian Helgath conducts the Odense Symphony on 13 and 14 December with Händel's Messiah together with the Philharmonic Choir Odense and soloists.
Florian Helgath presents in Klassik-Pop-et cetera his music favourites in Deutschlandfunk on 9 December from 10:05-11:00.
www.deutschlandfunk.de/am-mikrofon-der-dirigent-florian-helgath.827.de.html
Florian Helgath, RIAS Kammerchor and Capella de la Torre receive the ECHO Klassik 2017 for their album Da Pacem: Echo der Reformation in the category
Ensemble/Orchestra (Deutschlandradio Kultur/Deutsche Harmonia Mundi/Sony Music). The prize will be awarded in Hamburg on 29 October.
Read moreFlorian Helgath conducts the RIAS Kammerchor and Capella de la Torre with the programme Da Pacem in Rotterdam on 13 October, Amsterdam on 14 October and in Essen on 15 October.
Florian Helgath conducts the RIAS Kammerchor in Jüterbog on 15 July within the Brandenburgische Sommerkonzerte joined by Capella de La Torre. The programme includes works by Schütz, Gabrieli and Praetorius.
Florian Helgath conducts at Ruhrtriennale the project Memoria presenting compositions by Tomas Luis de Victoria, John Cage, Morton Feldman in three concerts with ChorWerk Ruhr and soloists in Essen from 25 - 27 August.
The CD recording "Sacred Songs" by Florian Helgath and the MDR Leipzig Radio Choir featuring motets by J.S. Bach and Max Reger as well as works by Knut Nystedt will be awarded the International Classical Music Award 2017 in the category "Choir Music".
Florian Helgath conducts the first performance of the music theatre production Earth Diver at Ruhrtriennale in Essen on 21 September featuring works by Heinrich
Schütz and Nikolaus Brass together with ChorWerk Ruhr, Phil Minton, B'Rock Continuo and Belgian author Paul Verrept under direction of Wouter Van Looy. Further dates: 22, 23, 24 September.
Read moreFlorian Helgath conducts ChorWerk Ruhr in a secular programme around The Chirping of the Nightingale with works by Josquin Desprez, Cipriano de Rore, Clement Janequin and Ugis Praulins on 18 June in Essen, 19 June in Kempen and 26 June in Hattingen.
Florian Helgath conducts the Choeur de Radio France in an A Capella programme in Paris on 17 February featuring the Requiem and Four Motets by Maurice Duruflé.
Florian Helgath
Chorwerk Ruhr
Capella de la Torre
(Coviello Classics 2021)
Florian Helgath
RIAS Kammerchor
Capella de la Torre
Katharina Bäuml
(deutsche harmonia mundi 2021)
Florian Helgath
Chorwerk Ruhr
Gabriela Scherer - Anke Vondung - Tilman Lichdi - Tobias Berndt
Concerto Köln
(Coviello Classics 2020)
fallacies of hope - deutsches requiem
Florian Helgath
SWR Vokalensemble
(NEOS 2019)
Florian Helgath
ChorWerk Ruhr
Sebastian Breuing & Christoph Schnackertz piano
Soloists
(Coviello Classics 2019)
Schanderl, Buchenberg, Zink,
Ostrzyga, Gerulewicz, Cadario,
Desprez, Salamon, Seither, Weidner
Florian Helgath
Via-Nova-Chor München
(Spektral 2017)
Johann Simon Mayr
Florian Helgath
Orpheus Vokalensemble
Concerto Köln
(SWR 2 / Carus 2017)
Lasso, Schütz, Monteverdi
RIAS Kammerchor
Capella de la Torre
Katharina Bäuml
(Sony Music / DeutschlandRadio Kultur 2017)
Reger, Bach, Nystedt
Florian Helgath
MDR Rundfunkchor
(Querstand 2016)
Christmas with the Choir of the Bayerischer Rundfunk
Florian Helgath
Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunk
Francois Leleux
(BR Klassik 2013)
Palestrina/Wagner Stabat mater
Florian Helgath
MDR Rundfunkchor
(Bachfest 2013)
Schnittke, Ravel, Bruckner, Sandström a.o.
Florian Helgath
Via Nova Choir
(Spektral 2012)