Gotthold Schwarz (born 2 May 1952 in

Zwickau Zwickau (; is, with around 87,500 inhabitants (2020), the fourth-largest city of Saxony after Leipzig, Dresden and Chemnitz and it is the seat of the Zwickau District. The West Saxon city is situated in the valley of the Zwickau Mulde (German: ...

) is a German Bass-baritone and conductor. Based in

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...

, he started as a member of the

Thomanerchor The Thomanerchor (English: St. Thomas Choir of Leipzig) is a boys' choir in Leipzig, Germany. The choir was founded in 1212. The choir comprises about 90 boys from 9 to 18 years of age. The members, called ''Thomaner'', reside in a boarding sch ...

and has conducted the

Gewandhausorchester The Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra (Gewandhausorchester; also previously known in German as the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig) is a German symphony orchestra based in Leipzig, Germany. The orchestra is named after the concert hall in which it is bas ...

. Between 2016 and 2021, he was the 17th

Thomaskantor (Cantor at St. Thomas) is the common name for the musical director of the , now an internationally known boys' choir founded in Leipzig in 1212. The official historic title of the Thomaskantor in Latin, ', describes the two functions of cantor a ...

after

Johann Sebastian Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard wo ...

Biography

Schwarz was the son of the cantor of St. Paul Church in Zwickau, which gave him an early contact with music. He began his musical career in 1964 as a member of the

, the

boys' choir A boys' choir is a choir primarily made up of choirboys who have yet to begin puberty or are in the early to middle stages of puberty and so retain their more highly pitched childhood voice type. Members of a boys' choir are technically known as '' ...

in Leipzig founded in 1212 and directed by

, among others, as the

. Schwarz has collaborated with the choir since in several functions. After completion of a church music education at the College of Church Music in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

, he studied at the Hochschule für Musik "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" in Leipzig, voice with Gerda Schriever, organ with and Hannes Kästner, and conducting with

Max Pommer Max Pommer (born 9 February 1936) is a German musicologist and conductor, a director of the Leipziger Universitätschor and the founder and conductor of the Neues Bachisches Collegium Musicum. Career Born in Leipzig, Pommer was a student of th ...

and

Hans-Joachim Rotzsch Hans-Joachim Rotzsch (25 April 1929 – 25 September 2013) was a German choral conductor, conducting the Thomanerchor from 1972 until 1991 as the fifteenth Thomaskantor since Johann Sebastian Bach. He was also a tenor and an academic teacher. B ...

. Later he studied privately with

Peter Schreier Peter Schreier (29 July 1935 – 25 December 2019) was a German tenor in opera, concert and lied, and a conductor. He was regarded as one of the leading lyric tenors of the 20th century. Schreier was a member of the Dresdner Kreuzchor conduct ...

Hermann Christian Polster Hermann Christian Polster (born 8 April 1937) is a German opera singer ( bass). Life Born in Leipzig, the son of the concert singer and singing teacher Fritz Polster, he received his first education from his father. He was a member of the Dresd ...

and

Helmuth Rilling Helmuth Rilling (born 29 May 1933) is a German choral conductor and an academic teacher. He is the founder of the Gächinger Kantorei (1954), the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart (1965), the Oregon Bach Festival (1970), the Internationale Bachakademie ...

. After graduation, he worked as a cantatas and oratorio singer. In 1979 he was appointed by Hans-Joachim Rotzsch as vocal coach of the Thomanerchor, serving also as a deputy and interim cantor in 1992, 1999 and 2002/03. In 2011, he served as an interim conductor for

Georg Christoph Biller Georg Christoph Biller (20 September 1955 – 27 January 2022) was a German choral conductor. He conducted the Thomanerchor as the sixteenth Thomaskantor since Johann Sebastian Bach from 1992 to 2015. He was also a baritone, an academic teacher, ...

. Schwarz sang with conductors such as

John Eliot Gardiner Sir John Eliot Gardiner (born 20 April 1943) is an English conductor, particularly known for his performances of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Life and career Born in Fontmell Magna, Dorset, son of Rolf Gardiner and Marabel Hodgkin, Ga ...

Philippe Herreweghe Philippe Maria François Herreweghe, Knight Herreweghe (born 2 May 1947) is a Belgian conductor and choirmaster. Herreweghe founded La Chapelle Royale and Collegium Vocale Gent and is renowned as a conductor, with a repertoire ranging from Re ...

, Peter Schreier,

Martin Haselböck Martin Haselböck (born 23 November 1954, Vienna, Austria) is the Austrian musical director of Musica Angelica in Long Beach, California, United States, and the musical director and founder of the Orchester Wiener Akademie. He is also a professor ...

, and with ensembles including the

and the

Dresdner Kreuzchor The Dresdner Kreuzchor is the boys' choir of the Kreuzkirche in Dresden, Germany. It has a seven-century history and a world-wide reputation. Today, the choir has about 150 members between the ages of 9 and 19, from Dresden and the surroundin ...

. He has performed at the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Ama ...

, the

Vienna Musikverein The ( or ; ), commonly shortened to , is a concert hall in Vienna, Austria, which is located in the Innere Stadt district. The building opened in 1870 and is the home of the Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. The acoustics of the building's 'Gre ...

, and in the US, Finland and Japan. He recorded several

Bach cantatas This is a sortable list of Bach cantatas, the cantatas composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. His almost 200 extant cantatas are among his important vocal compositions. Many are known to be lost. Bach composed both church cantatas, most of them for ...

with Gardiner as part of the Bach Cantata Pilgrimage. With the Thomanerchor, conducted by Biller, he recorded Bach's cantatas ''Es erhub sich ein Streit'', BWV 19, ''Gott der Herr ist Sonn und Schild'', BWV 79, and '' Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott, BWV 80'', the '' Mass in B minor'' and the

Vox Christi Vox (Latin for 'voice') may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional characters * Vox (DC Universe character), Mal Duncan * Vox, several characters in the anime series '' Lagrange: The Flower of Rin-ne'' * Gleeman Vox, from the ''Ratch ...

in the '' St John Passion''. He recorded Bach's solo cantatas for bass BWV 56, 82, and 158 with the

, conducted by Michael Schneider and his orchestra La Stagione. Increasingly, Schwarz has appeared as a conductor. He founded his own ensembles Concerto Vocale Leipzig in 1984 and the Sächsisches Barockorchester (Saxon Baroque Orchestra) in 1990. As a guest conductor he worked with the choir and orchestra of the Gewandhaus. In 1993, he founded with gambist Siegfried Pank and organist

Hans Christoph Becker-Foss Hans Christoph Becker-Foss (born 1949 in Höxter) is a German conductor, organist and harpsichordist and professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hannover. Biography Becker-Foss studied church music in Bremen. From 1973 to 1979 he was di ...

a baroque trio in order to perform mostly music of the

Bach family The Bach family refers to several notable composers of the baroque and classical periods of music, the best-known of whom was Johann Sebastian Bach (1685–1750). A family genealogy was drawn up by Johann Sebastian Bach himself in 1735 when he ...

, but also other Baroque music. Schwarz has been a teacher at the Hochschule für Musik "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" since 1986. He was a juror of the

International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition The International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition (german: Internationaler Bach Wettbewerb Leipzig, links=no) is a music competition in Leipzig, Germany, held by the Bach-Archiv Leipzig. It was founded in 1950 and was held every four years from 1 ...

in 2004. He resides in

. On 9 June 2016 he was selected as

in a term lasting until 2021. His successor was Andreas Reize.

References

External links

* *
Gotthold Schwarz

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best ab ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Schwarz, Gotthold 1952 births Living people People from Zwickau Thomaskantors German bass-baritones German male conductors (music) Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany 21st-century German conductors (music) 21st-century German male musicians