Hermann Max

Tireless research in libraries and archives, the creation of scores which are true to their sources, and the securing of authentic performances are only some of his working priorities. He saved countless outstanding, mainly baroque works from vanishing altogether and, through exemplary and standard-setting performances, broadcasts and CD recordings, created a core body of work. To achieve all this he has two great ensembles at his disposal: the Rheinische Kantorei and Das Kleine Konzert, both founded by Max himself.

Without his work, the picture of the significant baroque era would have been incomplete or even inaccurate. An entire musical landscape has been rediscovered or completed by the work of Hermann Max: the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, of his sons and numerous relatives, that of his predecessors and Thomaskantor successors and of his contemporaries, colleagues and students. Countless broadcast recordings, productions for the Westdeutsche Rundfunk (WDR), the Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandradio Kultur along with prize–winning CD recordings bear witness to this ambitious body of work.

Another of Max focal points is his engagement with Georg Philipp Telemann’s music, for which he has been awarded the Telemann–Preis in 1998 by the city of Magdeburg.

Apart from working with his ensembles, Hermann Max appears regularly as a guest conductor at home and abroad and teaches the interpretation of historical music.

In 1992 he founded the Festival Alte Musik, which takes place annually in september in the romanesque basilica of the Knechtsteden cloister.