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Carsten Koch (musician)

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Carsten Koch
Choral concert at the Unionskirche, Idstein, Bach: Christmas Oratorio, Part 6
Born1975 (age 48–49)
Kaiserslautern, Germany
EducationMusikhochschule Frankfurt
Occupations
  • Conductor
  • Organist
  • Academic teacher
Organizations

Carsten Koch (born 1975)[1] is a German organist, choral conductor and academic. He is the church musician at the Unionskirche in Idstein, Hesse, conducting the concert choir Idsteiner Kantorei and the orchestra Nassauische Kammerphilharmonie that he founded. He lectured orchestral conducting at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts.

Career

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Born in Kaiserslautern, Koch first studied music and German pedagogy, graduating with a focus on organ playing and choral conducting.[2] He continued his studies at the Musikhochschule Frankfurt,[2] organ with Daniel Roth, and orchestral conducting. He trained as a conductor with the Dirigentenwerkstatt Interaktion in Berlin with players of the Berliner Philharmoniker, among others. In 2005, he was a finalist of the Bad Homburg international conducting competition.[1] He was an assistant of Wojciech Rajski and the Polish Chamber Philharmonic Orchestra Sopot. Koch was a lecturer of orchestral conducting at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts from 2003 to 2013.[2]

From 2003, Koch has been the church musician at the Protestant Unionskirche in Idstein, responsible for the deanery as Dekanatskantor. He has conducted the concert choir Idsteiner Kantorei since, and founded in 2003 the orchestra Nassauische Kammerphilharmonie for choral and orchestral concerts.[1] The historic church features an organ built in 1912 by Walcker, retaining the case (Prospekt) of a Stumm organ [de] from 1783.[3]

Concerts

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In the Idstein region, Koch has conducted symphonic concerts at the Unionskirche, regularly on the Tag des offenen Denkmals (European Heritage Day), including a cycle of all Beethoven symphonies.[4][5] The cycle was completed in 2012 with the Ninth Symphony, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Idsteiner Kantorei, and the centenary of the organ.[6] Koch has conducted choral concerts, two to three per year at the Unionskirche, and others also at St. Martin, Idstein, and in smaller churches in the deanery. In 2010, he conducted Verdi's Messa da Requiem at St. Martin in an ecumenical project of three choirs.[7] In 2015, he conducted the same joined choirs in Te Deum[8] and Gloria[9] by Karl Jenkins. In an international collaboration also with the Belgian choir De Wase Kantorij from the sister town Zwijndrecht, he conducted Haydn's Die Schöpfung in 2016, both in Idstein and in Zwijndrecht.[10] In 2017, his first concert back in the Unionskirche after extended restoration work included Ola Gjeilo's Sunrise Mass and Eric Whitacre's Five Hebrew Love Songs.[11] In 2018, he shared Bach's Christmas Oratorio with his colleague, Franz Fink of St. Martin, in concerts at the Unionskirche.[7]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Unser Kantor" (in German). Idsteiner Kantorei. Archived from the original on 2 December 2018. Retrieved 1 December 2018.
  2. ^ a b c "Carsten Koch" (in German). l'esperance. Retrieved 26 June 2019.
  3. ^ "Evangelische Pfarrkirche (Unionskirche)" (in German). Denkmalpflege Hessen. Retrieved 9 June 2011.
  4. ^ Wenda, Manuel (11 September 2012). "Zuschauer jubeln wie bei Rockkonzert – Beethoven-Zyklus 9. Sinfonie in der Unionskirche" (in German). genios.de. Retrieved 9 December 2018.[permanent dead link‍]
  5. ^ Hörnicke, Richard (15 September 2009). "Ausdruck heiterer Gelassenheit / Carsten Koch zum "Tag des Denkmals" in der Unionskirche" (in German). genios.de. Archived from the original on 29 March 2019. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  6. ^ Wendt, Lieselotte (6 August 2012). "Unionskirche". Chrismon (in German). Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  7. ^ a b Heeren-Pradt, Beke (24 November 2018). "Bachs Weihnachtsoratorium ökumenisch / Am zweiten Adventswochenende führen die Idsteiner Kantorei und der Chor St. Martin alle sechs Kantaten an zwei Tagen in der Unionskirche in Idstein auf" (in German). Wiesbadener Tagblatt. Retrieved 8 December 2018.
  8. ^ "2/8/2015 / Jenkins, Karl: Te Deum". Boosey & Hawkes. 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  9. ^ "2/8/2015 / Jenkins, Karl: Gloria". Boosey & Hawkes. 2015. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  10. ^ "Grenzübergreifendes Konzertprojekt überzeugt in St. Martin Idstein". Wiesbadener Tagblatt (in German). 19 April 2016. Archived from the original on 17 November 2016. Retrieved 19 April 2016.
  11. ^ Heeren-Pradt, Beke (7 April 2017). "Erstes Konzert der Idsteiner Kantorei in der renovierten Unionskirche" (in German). Wiesbadener Tagblatt. Retrieved 14 April 2018.
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