Georg Christoph Biller (20 September 1955 – 27 January 2022) was a German choral conductor. He conducted the
Thomanerchor as the sixteenth
Thomaskantor since
Johann Sebastian Bach from 1992 to 2015. He was also a
baritone, an academic teacher, and a composer. Active as Thomaskantor after the
German reunification, Biller returned the Thomanerchor to its original focus on
church music. He was instrumental in the new buildings for the choir's boarding school, the
Forum Thomanum, and in the celebration of its 800th anniversary in 2012.
Life and career
Born in
Nebra, the son of a pastor, Biller grew up with three siblings.[1] At age 10, he joined the
Thomanerchor in Leipzig, living in its boarding school.[1] He was a member from 1965 to 1974, with
Erhard Mauersberger and
Hans-Joachim Rotzsch.[2] As Chorpräfekt, he assisted in conducting.[2]
In November 1992, Biller was appointed Thomaskantor as the 16th successor of Bach in this position.[2][7][8] Biller returned the Thomanerchor to the original focus on
church music, which had been neglected while Leipzig was in
East Germany; he established the choir in the liturgy of the
Lutheran service and reintroduced Motette, a type of musical
vespers service, in the
Thomaskirche.[1][3] The choir performed regularly three times a week there, Motette every Friday evening and Saturday afternoon, typically including a
Bach cantata for the
liturgical occasion, and Sunday service.[9] In 2009, he began performances of the six cantatas of Bach's Christmas Oratorio in St. Thomas and
St. Nicholas in services for the feast days of the Christmas season as Bach had intended 275 years earlier.[10]
From 2002, Biller was instrumental in the concept and new buildings for the boarding school of the Thomanerchor, the
Forum Thomanum as a musical education campus (musikalischer Bildungscampus).[1][11][12] In 2012, Biller celebrated the 800th anniversary of the Thomanerchor.[11][13] The internationally recognised event, prepared from 2008, was a highlight of his tenure as Thomaskantor. It exposed works by Bach, but also by Biller.[1] He resigned as Thomaskantor in January 2015 for health reasons.[4][14]
In January 1994, Biller was appointed professor of choral conducting at the Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Hochschule.[4] In 1996, he became a member of the
Sächsische Akademie der Künste (Academy of Arts of Saxony).[15]
Personal life
Biller was married to the actress Ute Loeck.[16] He had depression and a serious neurological disease that increasingly limited his motion,[3] and was reliant on a wheelchair from 2019. In the last months of his life, he exchanged thoughts with
Andreas Reize, the new Thomaskantor, sure that Reize would continue his work with the choir.[1] Biller died on 27 January 2022, at the age of 66.[2][17][18]
Biller, Georg (2018). Die Jungs vom hohen C / Erinnerungen eines Thomaskantors (in German). Halle (Saale): Mitteldeutscher Verlag.
ISBN978-3-95462-951-0.
OCLC1008600406.[18][21]