Thomas Hengelbrock
Conductor and violinist Thomas Hengelbrock has focused to an unusual degree on historical performances of Baroque music and on contemporary music, as well as mainstream repertory. He is the founder and director of his own groups, the Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble, which specializes in both Baroque and contemporary music.
Hengelbrock was born on June 9, 1958, in Wilhelmshaven, in what was then West Germany. He studied the violin with Rainer Kussmaul, a member of the Berlin Philharmonic. Early in his career, he was active as a violinist in the cities of Würzburg and Freiburg. Becoming interested in conducting, he worked as an assistant to conductor Antal Doráti and to composers Mauricio Kagel and Witold Lutosławski, developing an interest in contemporary music that he would maintain throughout his career. Attracted by the growing historical performance movement, he co-founded and directed the Freiburger Barockorchester in Germany (with which he made his recording debut in 1990, leading a performance of C.P.E. Bach's Hamburg Symphonies on the Deutsche Harmonia Mundi label), and he also conducted and appeared as a soloist with the pioneering group Concentus Musicus Wien, working directly under its director, Nikolaus Harnoncourt. In 1988, he became the director of the Amsterdam Bach Soloists, remaining in that post until 1991.
In that year, Hengelbrock founded the Balthasar Neumann Choir, adding to it a Balthasar Neumann Ensemble instrumental group in 1995; he remains the director of both. Named for a famous Baroque-era architect, these groups focus on historical performance but have a repertory that includes contemporary works. Hengelbrock served as the artistic director of the Kammerphilharmonie Bremen from 1995 to 1998 and was music director of the Volksoper Wien from 2000 to 2003; he also guest-conducted opera in various European houses. In 2001, he founded the Feldkirch Festival in Austria, serving as its director until 2006. Hengelbrock became principal conductor of the NDR Symphony Orchestra in Hamburg, overseeing its move into the Elbphilharmonie concert hall and its renaming as the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra. Hengelbrock's recordings with that group focused mostly on mainstream symphonic repertory. He stepped down from that position at the end of the 2017-2018 season but has remained active in the recording studio, issuing albums on Sony Classical as well as Deutsche Harmonia Mundi. In 2022, he and the Balthasar Neumann Orchestra backed soprano Julie Fuchs on the Mozart recital album Amadè on Sony Classical.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Mendelssohn: Elias, Op. 70
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on 18 Nov 2016
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Schubert Sinfonie Nr. 8 [9] in C-Dur
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 8 Jul 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Felix Mendelssohn : Symphonie n°1 - Schumann : Symphonie n°4
Symphonic Music - Released by Sony Classical on 1 Sep 2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Sinfonie Nr. 1 "Titan" (Hamburg Version 1893)
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 5 May 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
40 Years DHM - Bach: B-Minor Mass - Highlights
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on 24 Dec 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Psalm 51 / Stabat Mater
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on 15 Feb 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mahler: Sinfonie Nr. 1 "Titan" (Hamburg Version 1893)
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 5 May 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
BACH, J.S.: Overture (Suite) No. 1 / HANDEL: Armida Abbandonata
Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble, Sibylla Rubens, Thomas Hengelbrock
Classical - Released by SWR Classic on 1 Jan 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Festa Teatrale
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on 25 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Scarlatti / Bach / Durante
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on 15 Feb 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: Die Schöpfung (The Creation)
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on 26 Aug 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
DHM Splendeurs: Durante, Astorga, Pergolesi / Sacred Works
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on 16 Aug 1996
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vorisek: Symphony D Major, Op. 24
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on 31 Dec 1995
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana: Preludio
Balthasar Neumann Orchestra, Thomas Hengelbrock, Giorgio Berrugi
Opera - Released by Prospero Classical on 24 Nov 2023
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Festa Teatrale
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on 25 Jan 1999
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi: Ouvertures, Symphonies, Concertos
Classical - Released by Deutsche Harmonia Mundi on 1 Jan 1993
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo