Chorwerk Ruhr with David Lang: before and after nature at Ruhrtriennale

The tremendous lightness and precision with which the singers of Chorwerk Ruhr, conducted by Florian Helgath, perform songs that often thrive on the onomatopoeic effect of the English lyrics, the naturalness with which they dynamically swell sound waves of reverberation, echo and multiple overlays, is simply overwhelming.

Westdeutsche Allgemein, Wolfgang Platzeck, 18.09.2025

Florian Helgath & Chorwerk Ruhr at ION Nürnberg

The choir develops the power of Old Testament scenes, the solo passages nestle into the overall sound (especially the luminous sopranos), the incomparable piano passages, the powerful and effortlessly developing crescendos, the striking male voices are floating. Helgath's choristers are precisely attuned to the few conducting statements he gives them; there is nothing that the ensemble cannot realize in terms of dynamic extremes; a perfect Mendelssohn sound is created with clear rigour, touching emotional depth and stylistic conciseness.

Nürnberger Nachrichten, Uwe Mitsching, 02.07.2025

Britten-Brahms-Poulenc with Chorwerk Ruhr

When Florian Helgath makes music, there is a motivating, positive spirit. [...].Helgath is without doubt one of the most sought-after cracks in his industry. [...] Experts were unanimous that Helgath got the choral conductor gene, an incorruptible ear, so to speak, for every music and, above all, curiosity.

Rheinische Post, Wolfram Goertz, 15.05.2025

Audible parables of light

Florian Helgath, this year's conductor of the traditional Berlin New Year's Concert in the Philharmonie, had two ideal instruments at his disposal in the RIAS Chamber Choir and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, who successfully exercised all the Nazarene pallor and scholastic dryness from the difficult piece.
By guiding the ensembles with calm deliberation along softly blossoming lines that only climaxed dramatically in a few, but all the more impressive places, everyone together, attentive to each other, finally got the best out of the score.

Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Gerald Felber, 03.01.2025

Sophisticated Grandeur

A superb interpretation of Sergei Rachmaninov's All-Night Vigil with Chorwerk Ruhr conducted by Florian Helgath: cultivated grandeur and vocal difference at the best of this fabulous composition. The ensemble is an eminent figure in the German choral landscape. [...] Here, in addition to powerful ploughing, Rachmaninov's complex movement is delicately shaded, scrutinized for subtle nuances. [...] The intonation is magnificent, clear, free and absolutely unclouded in every dynamic sphere.

Klassik.com, Dr. Matthias Lange, 11.09.2024

Messiaen: Rechants: artistically outstanding

Climbing this summit of vocal art requires singers who are devilishly sure-footed and, to a certain extent, free from giddiness. The Chorwerk Ruhr has them: under the competent direction of Florian Helgath [...] they seem to effortlessly negotiate all the cliffs of harmony [...] and counterpoint.

Revierpassagen.de, Anke Demirsoy, 06.09.2024

New album: Frank Martin et ses contemporains

Florian Helgath and the excellent Zürcher Sing-Akademie, a young professional ensemble, celebrate this valuable repertoire of loud perls of two, three, at most four minutes in length with stupendous noblesse, first-class ensemble culture, audible enthusiasm and great joy in presenting the almost forgotten.

Rondo, Michael Wersin, 14.12.2024

A compelling account

The new release of Florian Helgath and the Bavarian Radio Choir offers a compelling account in collaboration with the ensemble Capella de la Torre. […] I cannot but gripped by Helgath’s visceral reading, and especially by his choir, who sing with a precision and sympathy that belies their size.

Gramophone 8/2024, Edward Breen

Bruckner with Chorwerk Ruhr and Bochum Symphony

Florian Helgath knew how to shape all the motets individually. With calm, precise conducting, he sometimes emphasized the Renaissance-like simplicity, then again the dynamic spectrum, or he simply revealed in the late Romantic harmonies. This was choral art at its finest.

Ruhr Nachrichten, Klaus Stübler, 24.03.2024

Sing-Akademie Zürich: Fauré Requiem and Psalm 136 with Tonhalle Orchestra

The Sing-Akademie Zürich has long been one of the world's best under the direction of Florian Helgath.

Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Christian Wildhagen, 07.03.2024

Fortissimo shook the foundations

It sounded tremendous: at the "Amen" the choir, soloists and orchestra were able to put aside all constraints and followed the composer's instructions, the fortissimo shook the foundations of the house. [...] Conductor Florian Helgath kept the huge apparatus under control.

Coesfelder Allgemeine Zeitung, Ulrich Wesseler, 07.11.2023

Dvorak: Stabat Mater

Standing ovations for choir concert in Bochum
Florian Helgath, artistic director of Chorwerk Ruhr since 2011, also conducted the Symphony Orchestra on this evening. Together with the four brilliant soloists [...] he created a masterpiece.

WAZ, Stefanie Stüber, 02.11.2023

Florian Helgath & Chorwerk Ruhr ensure great emotion with Rachmaninov

The delicacy in terms of homogeneity, intonation security and sound sensitivity, which Chorwerk Ruhr is presenting intriguingly on every occasion, carries the choir through the length of this evening with Rachmaninov's Vespers. [...] Much applause for another master stroke by Chorwerk Ruhr and a musical highlight of the Ruhrtriennale.

Westfälische Rundschau, Pedro Obiera, 20.08.2023

Brilliant impression at the Nuremberg Music Festival ION

This choir works at the push of a button! Schönberg's exuberant choral movement "Peace on Earth" succeeds absolutely brilliant.[...] Even top choirs cannot always convince here. Under Florian Helgath's clear conducting, however, the peculiarities of the structure and harmony are immediately apparent; rarely does one hear the piece so catchy, so naturally flowing - and so intonationally perfect.

Nürnberger Nachrichten, Stephan Schwarz-Peters, 28.06.2023

Florian Helgath & Chorwerk Ruhr in Schwetzingen: Encounter between baroque and present

Chorwerk Ruhr under Florian Helgath impressed with a crystal-clear choral sound, high vocal artistry and a fabulous versatility and presence in dynamics, tone and vocal coloration. These virtues in the choir and instrumental soloists gave the performance a deeply moving intensity.

Die Rheinpfalz, Karl Georg Berg, 11.05.2023

Heinrich Schütz: Hommage with BR Choir Munich

Under the direction of Florian Helgath, former head of the Munich Via Nova Choir and the Chorwerk Ruhr, the BR Choir offered a performance of “Musikalische Exequien” and the motets “Nun danket alle Gott” and “Die Himmel erzählen die Ehre Gottes” that was exemplary in terms of articulation, phrasing and intonation.

Süddeutsche Zeitung, Klaus Kalchschmid, 27.11.2022

Bach & Mauricio Kagel at Amsterdam Muziekgebouw:

What is admirable about this performance is above all the suppleness. Chorwerk Ruhr switched as a matter of course between Bach's meditative serenity and Kagel's provocative music theatre. In Amsterdam, they convince with both in a confined space - a feat of a special kind.

With a Brahms encore (Geistliches Lied op.30), Chorwerk Ruhr created a reference to Bach closing with round full sound after an eventful multilayered concert evening with much material to enjoy.

www.bachtrack.com, Michael Klier, 03.10.2022

Exemplary performance of the Mozart Requiem (version Michael Ostrzyga)

In the excellent cast with the Zürcher Sing-Akademie under Florian Helgath together with the top-class Freiburger Barockorchester, this has been a delightful performance. The soloist voices merged with the tutti of the agile, highly cultivated chorus.[…] Each of Helgath's gestures is a meaningful expression of his creative power through emotional devotion and suggestive presence.

 Schaffhauser Nachrichten, Gisela Zweifel-Fehlmann, 13.09.2022
 

"Haunting effect of a dense, dramatically pointed performance"

Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Christian Wildhagen, 12.09.2022

Musical highlight of Ruhrtriennale

Florian Helgath has formed Chorwerk Ruhr into an absolute top ensemble. […] He led the Bochum Symphony Orchestra just as competently as his choir, which was in top form as usual. The finest dynamic gradations, intonation stability and perfect phrasing had already been demonstrated by Chorwerk Ruhr in two A cappella settings by Igor Stravinsky, which are delicate in detail. The biggest surprise of the evening were three motets for choir and orchestra by Lili Boulanger. […] Great applause of the extra class.

Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Pedro Obiera, 29.08.2022

Album: Bach Memories (Bodenschätze) with Chorwerk Ruhr & Capella de la Torre

The album »Bodenschätze«, sung by the excellent Chorwerk Ruhr conducted by Florian Helgath, embarks on unheard-of discoveries from this collection in the truest sense of the word. What reverberates here is representative, sacred music of the finest [...] The subtle instrumental accompaniment on historical instruments by the wind ensemble »Capella de la Torre« also enriches the album and underlines the solemnity of the music. Sometimes the instruments are coupled with the appropriate voices, sometimes smaller preludes and interludes are switched on. And so this wonderful album, performed at the highest level, proves to be a treasure trove of vocal music treasures from around 1600.

Chorzeit, Arne Sonntag, 1/2022

Album: Bach Memories (Bodenschätze)

Chorwerk Ruhr under the direction of Florian Helgath has developped into one of the leading German chamber choirs over the past 20 years and stands for an extremely broad repertoire from early music to world premieres. The choir's latest project is devoted to a "bestseller" of the 17th century - the Florilegium Portense motet collection, with the Capella de la Torre as an instrumental partner. With the highest vocal sound quality, a broad, colorful spectrum of expression and above all with varied and intelligent arrangements, the two ensembles succeed in getting these pieces, which were very popular 400 years ago, back on track for today's ears.

rbbKultur, Bernhard Schrammek, 11.11.2021

Festive double choirs from Giovanni Gabrieli, rhetorical vitality from Orlando di Lasso, elegiac tones from Jacobus Gallus and approaches to solo monody: Florian Helgath designed a clever, exciting selection that also takes completely unknown composers into account [...].
If the selection of works is impressive, the singing culture of the Chorwerk Ruhr cannot be praised highly enough. With the choir, perfectly prepared in terms of phrasing, articulation and intelligibility of the text, Florian Helgath unfolds a maximum of sound beauty and filigree stylistic precision work. Quality with which the choir holds an international top position. [...]

Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Pedro Obiera, 05.11.2021

Florian Helgath: Carmina Burana in Stavanger

With three top-class vocal soloists, mixed choir and children's choir, full orchestra and one of the most sought-after choir conductors of the time, the stage was set for a feast in the packed concert hall. [...]
What a blessing to have Florian Helgath here! He has this music in his DNA. [...] All in all, an uplifting and heartwarming concert experience!

Stavanger Aftenbladet, 22.10.2021

An evening of superlatives: Chorwerk Ruhr & Concerto Köln

The performance of Mendelssohn's Elias reveals Florian Helgath not only as an excellent choir director, but also as a sovereign conductor of complex productions: accurate tempos, fine dynamic gradations, a beautiful tone formation and lively phrasing, a perfectly controlled balance between orchestra and choir, a defatted overall sound without historicizing exaggerations, a confident sense for the dramatic, spiritual essence of the work and a brilliant preparation of the choir and the orchestra. […] A coherent interpretation of the work which has granted the Ruhrtriennale a great moment.

Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Pedro Obiera, 11.09.2021

Album: Praetorius & Italy with RIAS Kammerchor & Capella de la Torre

Michael Praetorius, whose 400th anniversary of death is being celebrated this year, is one of the great shortfalls in music history. "You need real early baroque specialists for him," says Helgath to explain this deficit. [...] "His recognition prevented the need of very old instruments such as shawms, dulcian, pommer and cornetts for him - and not just a simple baroque oboe." But then this music unfolds an unexpected and incomparable suggestive and suction power. You step into another world.
"The difference between Praetorius and the Italians that he admired and that we have gathered on this album is his much greater relation to words."[...] Praetorius' point, however, is precisely "to leave this ridge of word primacy ’ (measured against contemporaries such as Schein, Schütz and Scheidt). Praetorius, that's the joke about him, is getting more Italian. […] With the new CD, the RIAS Chamber Choir sets a monument of absolute superiority.

Rondo Magazin, Robert Fraunholzer, 1/2021

Album: Mozart Requiem

The event of the new recording is anyway the interpretation by Chorwerk Ruhr and Concerto Köln under the direction of Florian Helgath, who sets new records with his equally inspired, slim, energetic and expressive design. The choir is brilliant, always sounding transparent, dynamic, wide, but without extravagance, and making the melodic progress crystal clear. Florian Helgath sets strong accents, but always keeps his measure, does not derail in exaggerations like celebrated stars à la Currentzis & Co. Together with the no less excellent Concerto Köln and a balanced soloist quartet, the recording deserves a top place in every discotheque.

Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Pedro Obiera, 26.06.2020

Besser kann man Bruckners Musik nicht singen

Mit ruhigem, präzisem Dirigat betone er einmal die renaissancehafte Schlichtheit, dann wieder das dynamische Spektrum, oder er schwelgte einfach in den spätromantischen Harmonien. Das war Chorkunst vom Feinsten:

Ruhrnachrichten, Klaus Stübler, 24.03.2024

Eine überzeugende Interpretation

Das neue Album  von Florian Helgath und dem Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks in Zusammenarbeit mit dem Ensemble Capella de la Torre bietet eine überzeugende Interpretation. […] Ich kann nicht anders, als mich von Helgaths tiefgründigem Lesen mitreißen zu lassen, und vor allem von seinem Chor, der mit einer Präzision und Sympathie singt, die seine Größe nicht vermuten lässt.

Gramophone 8/2024, Edward Breen

Sing-Akademie Zürich: Fauré Requiem und Psalm 136 mit dem Tonhalle Orchester

Dieser Chor, das zeigt sich hier wieder einmal, gehört unter der Leitung von Florian Helgath längst zur Weltspitze.

Neue Zürcher Zeitung, Christian Wildhagen, 07.03.2024

Fortissimo erschüttert die Grundfesten

Es klang gewaltig: Beim "Atmen" konnten Chor, Solisten und Orchester allen Zwang ablegen und den Anweisungen des Komponisten folgen, das Fortissimo erschütterte die Grundfesten des Hauses. [...] Florian Helgath hielt als Dirigent den riesigen Apparat im Griff.

Coesfelder Allgemeine Zeitung, Ulrich Wesseler, 07.11.2023

Dvorak: Stabat Mater

Stehende Ovationen für Chorkonzert in Bochum
Florian Helgath, seit 2011 künstlerischer Leiter von Chorwerk Ruhr, war an diesem Abend auch als Dirigent der Symphoniker zu erleben. Zusammen mit den vier brillanten Solisten [...] gelang ihm ein Meisterwerk.

WAZ, Stefanie Stüber, 02.11.2023

Neues Album: Frank Martin et ses contemporains

Florian Helgath und die vorzügliche Zürcher Sing-Akademie, ein junges Profi-Ensemble, zelebrieren dieses wertvolle Repertoire aus lauter Perlen von zwei, drei, höchstens vier Minuten Länge mit stupender Noblesse, erstklassiger Ensemblekultur, hörbarer Begeisterung und großer Freude am Präsentieren von fast Vergessenem.

Rondo, Michael Wersin, 14.12.2024