In the 17
th and 18
th
centuries Hamburg emerged as one of the most influential centres
of Protestant church music. While the boys’ choruses of Dresden
and Leipzig took on interregional significance, the five main churches
in Hamburg became famous first and foremost for their magnificent
organs and their outstanding organists. Until 1943 the Hauptkirche Sankt
Katharinen – one of Hamburg’s five principal churches – was home
to old Hamburg’s most famous organ which Johann Sebastian Bach called
“a superb instrument in every detail” in 1720 at his
legendary concert. Today, this organ has been fully restored to its
original state using surviving historic pipes.
As the Music Director of the Hauptkirche Sankt Katharinen,
Andreas Fischer upholds the organ music traditions dating back
to the Middle Ages. As well as performing the organ during divine
worship and at concerts, Andreas Fischer also conducts the church’s large
chorus. Since his appointment in 1994, the musician and this chorus
have performed many significant choral works including every oratorio and most
cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach in addition to such works as
Beethoven’s Missa solemnis and the Requiems by Mozart, Verdi and Britten.
Andreas Fischer studied at the Hochschule fьr Musik und Theater
in Munich, specialising in church music, organ and conducting. His
teachers included Franz Lehrndorfer (organ), Gitti Pirner (piano), Roderich
Kreile (choral conducting) and Hanns-Martin Schneidt (symphony conducting),
whose assistant he was at the Munich Bach Choir and the Hochschule fьr
Musik from 1989 to 1993. In 1997 Andreas Fischer won 3rd
prize at the Gottfried Silbermann Organ Competition in Freiburg.
The musician has toured throughout Germany and abroad, performing
the harpsichord and the organ. Fischer has appeared on numerous
occasions with Hamburg’s Camerata orchestra under Max Pommer. As
an organist he frequently tours with the Hamburger Symphoniker,
collaborating with such conductors as Jeffrey Tate, Muhai Tang and Andrei
Boreiko.
2005 saw the release of a recording of works by Bach,
Buxtehude, Scheidemann and Reincken performed by Andreas Fischer
on the Silbermann organ in Freiburg. A recording
of works by Sweelinck, Scheidemann, Reincken, Bach and Hцller performed
on the restored organ of the Hauptkirche Sankt Katharinen
came in 2009.