Christoph Spering

Conductor Christoph Spering channels principles of historically informed performance into repertory spanning the early eighteenth century through the mid-nineteenth, embracing every genre. Through ensembles he established himself, he has produced forward-looking discs of choral and orchestral music from the Classical and early Romantic periods.

Born on 23 June 1959 in Simmern, a modest community in what was then West Germany’s Rhineland-Palatinate, Spering shares his vocation with his younger brother Andreas, likewise a conductor. He trained at the Musikhochschule Köln in church music and received the distinction Kirchenmusikdirektor; he maintains an ongoing post with the Protestant parish of Cologne-Mülheim. In 1983 he assembled the Mülheimer Kantorei Köln in that city, the first of several ensembles under his direction. He next founded the Chorus Musicus Köln and, in 1988, Das Neue Orchester. With the latter two groups he released, in 1992, the première recording of Mendelssohn’s 1841 adaptation of Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244. The project brought Spering broad notice, opening doors to engagements with leading orchestras beyond his own formations. Appearances have included the Gürzenich Philharmonic Orchestra of Cologne, the Halle City Symphony Orchestra, and the Orchestre Philharmonique de Lille in France. Extending the impetus of the Mendelssohn edition, he has championed other uncommon scores from the late Classical and early Romantic eras, among them the oratorio Columbus by Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst Bach, Antonio Salieri’s Requiem, and Robert Schumann’s Der Rose Pilgerfahrt. His programs also reach from Bach forward to Berlioz, consistently informed by period-practice insights.

Spering’s extensive discography, issued on Opus 111, Naïve, Deutsche Harmonia Mundi and additional prominent labels, centers on the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. It encompasses such rarities as Antonio Cartellieri’s Christmas Oratorio (1772–1807) alongside overlooked pieces by canonical figures. He has documented Mendelssohn’s incidental music for Antigone, Oedipus Rex, and Athalia. In 2020, again directing the Chorus Musicus Köln and Das Neue Orchester, he recorded six Bach cantatas for Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.