Biography
Friedrich Kircheis earned recognition as an organist and harpsichordist who helped launch the early-music revival inside the former East Germany, continuing to appear in concerts and on disc well into the twenty-first century. Born in 1940 in the Saxon mining community of Aue—today known as Aue-Bad Schlema—he displayed early aptitude and commenced organ instruction at fourteen, securing a cantor’s post by sixteen. In 1959 he entered the Hochschule für Musik Leipzig, where Wolfgang Schetelich and Hannes Kästner guided his organ studies; he completed the program with distinction in 1964. During the following two decades he worked as a church musician in Grimma and Dresden, and between 1969 and 1971 he also directed the choir at the Stadttheater Döbeln. His achievements were acknowledged when he received a prize at the Fourth International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in 1972. That same year marked the start of a lasting collaboration with trumpeter Ludwig Güttler; their first joint performances of trumpet-and-organ repertoire occurred in 1979, and the partnership remained active into the early 2020s. In 1992 the pair issued the album Berühmte Trompetenkonzerte on the Berlin Classics label, which later hosted numerous additional Kircheis recordings. Beginning in the 1970s, Kircheis aligned himself more closely with the historical-performance movement then emerging in East Germany. He served as harpsichordist of the Dresden Chamber Soloists from 1975 to 1982 and, from 1984 onward, maintained a continuing relationship with the Leipzig Bach Collegium in the same capacity. Since 1986 he has also appeared on harpsichord with Güttler’s Virtuosi Saxoniae. As soloist and ensemble member he has performed throughout Europe, the United States, and Japan. The majority of his many recordings feature the Virtuosi Saxoniae; in 2022 he again accompanied Güttler on the Berlin Classics release In allen meinen Taten.
Albums
