Hansjörg Albrecht
Hansjörg Albrecht is regarded as one of today’s most innovative musical visionaries and is among the few internationally acclaimed artists active as a conductor, concert organist, and harpsichordist. He is especially renowned as a specialist in the grand music of the 18th century, yet consistently follows his own artistic path, with a repertoire ranging from Bruckner, Liszt, Wagner, Mahler, and Strauss to Messiaen, numerous world premieres, and a passion for rediscovering forgotten composers. Through his organ transcriptions, he has established himself as one of the leading virtuosos of the “queen of instruments.”
Since the 2023/24 season, Albrecht has served as Artistic Director of the CPE.Bach.Akademie.Hamburg, its choir and orchestra, as well as the annual International Bach Festival Hamburg. He is dedicated to strengthening Hamburg’s position as an international Bach city and to creating a new platform for the Sturm und Drang music of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and his brothers. From 2005 to 2023, succeeding the legendary Karl Richter, he led the Münchener Bach-Chor and Münchener Bach-Orchester, guiding the ensembles to renewed international acclaim. From 2021 to 2023, he also served as Principal Guest Conductor at the Teatro Petruzzelli Bari. His concert career has taken him to major musical centres including London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Vienna, Berlin, Rome, Prague, Warsaw, Budapest, Moscow, Dubai, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, and New York, collaborating with renowned artists, symphony orchestras, period-instrument ensembles, opera houses, and ballet companies.
To mark the 100th anniversary of Bach ambassador Karl Richter’s birth in 2026, Albrecht initiated the worldwide Bach.Netzwerk.Festival. He currently serves as Principal Organist of the Bergson Kunstkraftwerk Munich and the Ishikawa Concert Hall in Kanazawa, Japan. For the OehmsClassics label, he has released more than 40 CDs as conductor and organist and has been nominated for a GRAMMY Award. On the occasion of Anton Bruckner’s 200th birthday, Albrecht presented the first complete recording of all 11 Bruckner symphonies in organ transcriptions, recorded at historic European locations associated with the composer.
Photo: Hansjörg Albrecht © Michaela Kuhn
Since the 2023/24 season, Albrecht has served as Artistic Director of the CPE.Bach.Akademie.Hamburg, its choir and orchestra, as well as the annual International Bach Festival Hamburg. He is dedicated to strengthening Hamburg’s position as an international Bach city and to creating a new platform for the Sturm und Drang music of Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and his brothers. From 2005 to 2023, succeeding the legendary Karl Richter, he led the Münchener Bach-Chor and Münchener Bach-Orchester, guiding the ensembles to renewed international acclaim. From 2021 to 2023, he also served as Principal Guest Conductor at the Teatro Petruzzelli Bari. His concert career has taken him to major musical centres including London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Vienna, Berlin, Rome, Prague, Warsaw, Budapest, Moscow, Dubai, Tokyo, Beijing, Shanghai, and New York, collaborating with renowned artists, symphony orchestras, period-instrument ensembles, opera houses, and ballet companies.
To mark the 100th anniversary of Bach ambassador Karl Richter’s birth in 2026, Albrecht initiated the worldwide Bach.Netzwerk.Festival. He currently serves as Principal Organist of the Bergson Kunstkraftwerk Munich and the Ishikawa Concert Hall in Kanazawa, Japan. For the OehmsClassics label, he has released more than 40 CDs as conductor and organist and has been nominated for a GRAMMY Award. On the occasion of Anton Bruckner’s 200th birthday, Albrecht presented the first complete recording of all 11 Bruckner symphonies in organ transcriptions, recorded at historic European locations associated with the composer.
Photo: Hansjörg Albrecht © Michaela Kuhn
