Gotthold Schwarz has already acted as the Cantor at St. Thomas on several occasions. Michael Faber, Leipzig's Mayor for Cultural Affairs, said: "We are very grateful that Mr. Schwarz is again prepared at such short notice to perform this important task. The St. Thomas Boys' Choir will therefore be able to maintain its high quality and the choir members will obtain the continuity and reliability which they need in this situation."
The appointment of Gotthold Schwarz as the interim musical director was made jointly by the St. Thomas Boys' Choir, the Parish of St. Thomas, the Bach Archive and the Gewandhaus concert hall in Leipzig. The city of Leipzig is intending to conclude the multi-stage recruitment process for the post of Cantor at St. Thomas by March 2016.
Background information
In the middle of January 2015, the city of Leipzig announced that Professor Georg Christoph Biller had asked the Lord Mayor to cancel his contract of employment as Cantor at St. Thomas at the end of January due to health reasons. Professor Biller had taken up this post in 1992.
Short biography of Gotthold Schwarz
Born in Zwickau in Saxony in 1952, Gotthold Schwarz received his musical training at the Dresden Church Music School and the University of Music "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" in Leipzig.
Gotthold Schwarz' busy concert schedule took him at an early stage to leading European music centres and, for example, to Japan, Israel, Brazil, Argentina and the USA where he also gave interpretation courses on works by Bach
In addition to concerts and operas, Schwarz devotes his artistic activities to Lieder - with an extensive repertoire ranging from baroque to modern. In 2004 Gotthold Schwarz was a member of the jury in the singing category of the International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition.
Gotthold Schwarz also works as a conductor. In the past he has worked as the interim Cantor of St. Thomas on several occasions - also over a longer period of time. He was responsible for conducting the motet, cantata and oratorio performances by the Choir and its tasks during church services in St. Thomas Church. He has also conducted joint concerts between the St. Thomas Boys' Choir, the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, the Berlin Academy for Early Music and other ensembles, and during some concert tours by the St. Thomas Boys' Choir.