Diethard Hellmann

Diethard Hellmann (28 December 1928 – 14 October 1999) was a German Kantor, composer and academic teacher, first in Leipzig at the Friedenskirche and the Musikhochschule, then from 1955 in Mainz at the Christuskirche and the Peter Cornelius Conservatory, finally in Munich where he was president of the Musikhochschule München from 1981 to 1988. He was known for a weekly Bach cantata in Mainz, broadcast by SWR.

Life and career Born in Grimma on 28 December 1928, Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied, BWV 190 and the St Mark Passion.

Hellmann took the Bachchor on concert tours to France, Poland and Israel. He collaborated with singers such as Peter Schreier, Aldo Baldin, Ria Bollen, Ursula Buckel, Eva Csapó, Agnes Giebel, Julia Hamari, Ernst Haefliger, Philippe Huttenlocher, Georg Jelden, Helena Jungwirth, Siegfried Lorenz, Adalbert Kraus, Horst Laubenthal, Karl Markus, Barbara Martig-Tüller, Friedreich Melzer, Klaus Mertens, Siegmund Nimsgern, Ernst Gerold Schramm, Verena Schweizer, Jakob Stämpfli, Ortrun Wenkel, Kurt Widmer and Edith Wiens. With the Bachchor Mainz, he recorded more than 100 Bach cantatas, broadcast by SWF once a week.

Hellmann conducted the Requiem by Jean Gilles, Haydn's Harmoniemesse, the Oratorio de Noël by Saint-Saëns, Beethoven's Missa solemnis, the four Choralkantaten by Max Reger, and Frank Martin's Golgotha.

In 1974, he was appointed professor at the Musikhochschule München, where he was the director from 1981 to 1988.