Helmut Koch

He was professor at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" from its beginning. After working as a regular guest conductor at the Staatsoper Berlin, he became Generalmusikdirektor. He was the first conductor of the Berliner Singakademie in East Berlin, and held the position until his death.

Helmut Koch studied at Folkwang University of the Arts. The recorded working language is German. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are classical music. Distinctions recorded are Patriotic Order of Merit in Gold and National Prize of East Germany.

• Name — Helmut Koch • Birthplace — Barmen, Germany • Born — 5 April 1908 • Died — 26 January 1975 • Place of death — East Berlin, East Germany • Education — * Rheinische Musikschule • Folkwang Hochschule • Occupation — * Conductor • Composer • Academic teacher • Organizations — * Berliner Rundfunk • Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" • Staatsoper Berlin • Berliner Singakademie • Awards — * National Prize of the GDR • Handel Prize • Vaterländischer Verdienstorden

Koch was born in Barmen, now part of Wuppertal, North Rhine-Westphalia. As buying a piano was unaffordable for his parents, Koch learned to play the violin from the age of twelve. When he was age 16 the family moved to Essen. The violin lessons were continued, and Koch also took lessons in music theory and composition after leaving the Realgymnasium. He studied at the Rheinische Musikschule in Cologne and stayed there until the founding of the Folkwang Hochschule in Essen. Although he had plans for a career as a conductor, he fulfilled his parents' wish to focus on pedagogy, and took a private music teacher's examination in 1928. In 1928, Koch met Hermann Scherchen as a participant in a conducting course. The latter suggested that he participate in a four-week music festival in Winterthur (Switzerland) as a violinist and viola player in order to broaden his knowledge of orchestral playing. During this time, Scherchen decided to train Koch as a private student and also helped him to find work as a sound engineer and assistant with conducting duties at the then Ostmarken Rundfunk AG in Königsberg. In 1931, he moved to Berlin where he took over the direction of workers' choirs, including the Berliner Schubertchor. In 1938, Koch became recording manager (Aufnahmeleiter) for the record company Schallplatten AG Carl Lindström. He was a member of the Nazi party. He was drafted to the Volkssturm in February 1945. Immediately after the war, Koch became recording manager for the Berliner Rundfunk, where he founded the Solistenvereinigung des Berliner Rundfunks and the Kammerorchester Berlin. He founded the Großer Chor des Berliner Rundfunks in 1948. Koch was a candidate for the Sozialistische Einheitspartei Deutschlands (SED) in 1950, and a member from 1954. In the 1950s, he was appointed professor of conducting at the new Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler". Koch was a regular guest conductor at the Staatsoper Berlin from 1960 where he led Handel's Giulio Cesare and Ezio, among others. He was instrumental in a revival of Handel's oratorios which he also conducted at the Halle Handel Festival. Koch was appointed Generalmusikdirektor (GMD) in 1963. Koch, committed to the close cooperation of professional and amateur artists, became the first conductor of the Berliner Singakademie in 1963 after the Berlin Wall was built, founded then to continue the tradition of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin also in the East. He held the position until his death. Koch died in Berlin aged 66.

For Koch, music old and new was a medium able to transform people; therefore composers and performers should handle it responsibly. He rejected a division of old and new music, saying: "Everything we do, we do for the people who live now, and who think and feel as today's. ("Alles, was wir machen, machen wir für die Menschen, die jetzt leben, als Heutige denken und empfinden.")