“I see the future of Baroque orchestral music in the hands of modern ensembles – the fetish of the ‘original instrument’ has had its day, but not the profoundly trained professional who guides an orchestra into the deeper dimensions of the composition. For it isn’t the instrument that makes the music, but the head!”
Reinhard Goebel
The Süddeutsche Zeitung reveres him as an ‘icon of early music’, and the New York Times applauds him as a ‘light in a sea of mediocrity’. Reinhard Goebel specialises in the repertoire of the 17th and 18th centuries; As an expounder of period performance practice for both early music ensembles and modern orchestras, and as an endless fount of knowledge about gems of the repertoire, he is a world-renowned specialist.
An interpreter of historically informed performance practice for both specialized ensembles and modern orchestras, and an inexhaustible source of knowledge of repertoire jewels, he is acclaimed worldwide as an expert. In 2017, he received the Bach Medal from the City of Leipzig for his role as “a pioneer and thorough explorer of the repertoire outside the established names.”
Reinhard Goebel was the founder of the legendary Musica Antiqua Köln, whom he directed for 33 years. Aware of the anachronistic nature of "conducting" music originally conducted by the Kapellmeister from the harpsichord or first violin, Goebel developed in each ensemble an autonomy largely independent of the baton. Countless orchestras have successfully participated in the 'Goebel experiment', including the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, Gewandhaus Orchester Leipzig, Staatskappelle Dresden, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Berliner Barock Solisten, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchester National d 'Île de France, Tonhalle Orchester Zurich, Odense Symphony Orchestra, Residentie Orkest; Taipei, Melbourne and Sydney Symphony Orchestras, as well as the German Radio Symphony Orchestras in Frankfurt, Cologne, Hanover, Munich, Leipzig and Saarbrücken.
Highlights from recent seasons include concerts with orchestras such as Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Birmingham Symphony Orhcestra, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Radio Symphony Orchestras of the German Broadcasting Company in Saarbrücken and Cologne and a tour with the Berliner Barock Soloists. He also led the North Netherlands Orchestra in a Frisian-language performance of Bach's St Matthew Passion. In addition, Mr. Goebel conducted the Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, had concerts with the Konzerthausorchester and WDR Symphony Orchestra, with the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg, Berliner Barock Solisten and others.
CD recordings from Reinhard Goebel have appeared on all major labels: Deutsche Harmonia Mundi, Deutsche Grammophon, Sony BMG and Oehms Classics. In February 2008 Reinhard Goebel, together with the Korean violinist Yura Lee and the Bayerische Kammerfilharmonie, received a Diapason d'Or for his 'Mozart in Paris' CD, released at the Augsburg Mozart Festival in 2007 – an award he has already won for several recordings. with Musica Antiqua Köln. In the spring of 2010 he was again awarded a Diapason d'Or for the reissue of the Deutsche Grammophone recording 'Le Parnasse Français' with Musica Antiqua Köln, the original 1978 edition of which also won him the same prize. Lübeck honored Reinhard Goebel in 1984 with the Buxtehude Prize, and Magdeburg did so in 2002 with the Telemann Prize. As early as 1980 he was awarded the Siemens Förderpreis, and in 1997 the Nordrhein-Westfalen state prize, awarded by the later German president Johannes Rau. In April 2007 he was presented with the IMA award in London to Reinhard Goebel, and in 2015 BBC Music Magazine chose him in its list of the twenty greatest violinists of all time. In season 19/20 he finalized his project 'Beethovens Welt', about unknown works by Beethoven and contemporaries. In 19/20 Sony Classical released a 5-part CD cycle with radio orchestras (WDR, Hr, DRP and MRO), for which he received 5 Diapason D'Or, Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik etc.
2022