Helmuth Rilling
»The holistic excellence of Helmuth Rilling’s artistic and pedagogic achievements with the International Bach Academy in Stuttgart in the 20 years since its foundation merits the highest admiration, particularly during Bach Year, in which, moreover, Rilling excelled himself with the ‘Passion 2000’ composition project.«
Helmuth Rilling, born in Stuttgart in 1933, is a conductor, a teacher and an ambassador for Bach to the entire world. In 1954, he founded the Gächinger Kantorei choir, followed in 1965 by the Bach Collegium in Stuttgart as an instrumental partner. Since then, Helmuth Rilling has done intensive work on the oeuvre of J. S. Bach, with whom nowadays his name is linked more closely than any other expositor. In 1981, Helmuth Rilling founded the International Bach Academy in Stuttgart, dedicated to studying the person and works of Bach and his influence on music from 1750 up to the present day: it organises concerts, advanced courses, symposia, the European Music Festival in Stuttgart, the Stuttgart Bach Week, and a series of concerts featuring oratorios from the 17th to the 21st century.