Helmut Rilling, German conductor and Grammy Award winner, dies at 92

German conductor Helmut Rilling, a teacher and winner of the Grammy and Herbert von Karajan awards, died at the age of 93. This was announced on February 13 by SWR Corporation.

It is noted that the music master died on February 11.

He devoted his entire life to the work of Johann Sebastian Bach and became the first in the world to record all of his spiritual cantatas. For this contribution to the musical art, the conductor was awarded the title "Mr. Bach", although he himself did not like it very much.

"It always seemed almost strange to me that I was so strongly associated with Bach, even called "Papa Bach." I don't like it at all. Just playing Bach would be too boring for me," he explained.

Helmut Rilling was born on May 29, 1933 in Stuttgart, Germany. At the age of 24, he became a cantor at the Stuttgart Memorial Church, and at the age of 30 he took up the post of church music director. In 1969, Rilling received a professorship in choral conducting in Frankfurt am Main, where he worked until 1985.

For his creative and teaching work, Rilling has been awarded a number of prestigious music awards, including the Herbert von Karajan Award, the Grammy Award and the ECHO Klassik of the German Recording Academy.

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