Remembering Helmuth Rilling

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra family joins the music world in mourning the passing of pioneering German conductor and scholar Helmuth Rilling, who died yesterday, February 11, 2026, in Warmbronn, Germany. He was 92.

Born in Stuttgart on May 29, 1933, Rilling was one of the most influential modern interpreters of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. He founded the Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart in 1954 and the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart in 1965, and with those ensembles, he embarked on a project to record Bach’s complete sacred cantatas and major choral works on modern instruments. Recorded from 1969 to 1985, the cycle was re-released in 2000 on over 170 CDs and comprised more than 1,000 works. 

In 1970 he co-founded the Oregon Bach Festival, and with that group’s orchestra and chorus, later recorded Penderecki’s Credo, which won a Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance in 2001. Rilling also founded the International Bach Academy Stuttgart in 1981.

Rilling appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus on a number of notable occasions, listed below.

January 20, 21, 22, and 25, 2005, Orchestra Hall
BEETHOVEN Missa solemnis in D Major, Op. 123
Angela Denoke, soprano
Michelle DeYoung, mezzo-soprano
Stephen Gould, tenor
Alexander Vinogradov, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director

May 18, 19, and 20, 2006, Orchestra Hall
BACH Magnificat in D Major, BWV 243
MOZART Requiem in D Minor, K. 626
Karina Gauvin, soprano
Anne-Carolyn Schlüter, mezzo-soprano
Ingeborg Danz, contralto
Thomas Michael Allen, tenor
Nathan Berg, bass-baritone
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director

May 21, 2006, Orchestra Hall (Beyond the Score)
MOZART Requiem in D Minor, K. 626
Robert Levin, speaker
Karina Gauvin, soprano
Ingeborg Danz, contralto
Thomas Michael Allen, tenor
Nathan Berg, bass-baritone
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director

March 10, 11, and 12, 2011
MENDELSSOHN Elijah, Op. 70
Alexandra Coku, soprano
Birgit Remmert, mezzo-soprano
James Taylor, tenor
Markus Eiche, baritone
Kenny Lumb, treble
Melissa Arning, soprano
Angela Young Smucker, mezzo-soprano
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
The March 10 and 12 concerts were presented in conjunction with the American Choral Directors Association annual conference.

Numerous tributes have been posted online, including the International Bach Academy Stuttgart, New York Times, and moto-perpetuo.com.

This article also appears here.