Conductor and organist Hansjörg Albrecht talks to Alexander Krampe about the life of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Hansjörg Albrecht is one of the few artists who are regularly present internationally both as a conductor and as a concert organist. As a conductor, he is internationally recognised above all as a passionate specialist for Bach and the opulent music of the 18th century, but as an all-round musician he consistently goes his own way – between archive and new creation, with an extensive repertoire, numerous world premieres and a soft spot for forgotten composers such as the Bach sons, Hans Rott, Walter Braunfels and Mieczysław Weinberg. With his organ transcriptions, he established himself as a specialist among the virtuosos of his instrument. Albrecht succeeded the legendary Karl Richter as conductor of the Munich Bach Choir and the Munich Bach Orchestra from 2005 to 2023 and led the ensemble to new international fame with an extensive concert programme.
Since the 2023/24 season, he has been Artistic Director of the Carl-Philipp-Emanuel-Bach-Akademie Hamburg as well as the choir of the same name and the annual International Bach Festival Hamburg. His concert activities take him to all international music centres and he regularly works with internationally renowned artists and orchestras - currently with Jan Vogler, Christian Gerhaher, Michael Volle and Andrea Lucchesini, orchestras such as the Bremen Philharmonic Orchestra, the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra, the Hangzhou and Suzhou Philharmonic Orchestra and original sound ensembles such as the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Concerto Köln and the Lautten Compagney Berlin.
Hansjörg Albrecht is a member of the board of directors of the Neue Bach-Gesellschaft Leipzig. He is also Artistic Director of the International Online Organ Festival (IOOF), which will be held worldwide for the first time in 2022 under the patronage of UNESCO, and the 99th Bach Festival of the Neue Bach-Gesellschaft 2025 in Munich.
(Prof Rafaela Kraus and Dr Bernhard Pflugfelder)
