Schneidt, Hanns-Martin
Schneidt, Hanns-Martin
Schneidt, Hanns-Martin, German conductor and pedagogue; b. Kitzingen am Main, Dec. 6, 1930. He became a member of the Thomanerchor in Leipzig in 1941, where he studied under Günther Ramin. In 1949 he went to Munich to study conducting, composition, organ, and musicology. In 1955 he became director of the Berlin Church Music School, and also founder-director of the Berlin Bach Collegium and Choir. Following his debut as a conductor with the Berlin Phil, in 1960, he appeared in Germany and abroad as a conductor with orchs. and opera houses. From 1963 to 1985 he was Generalmusikdirektor of Wuppertal. He also was a prof. at the Hamburg Staatlichen Hochschule für Musik from 1971 to 1978. In 1985 he became artistic director of the Munich Bach Choir and Orch., as well as prof. of conducting and church music at the Munich Staatlichen Hochschule für Musik, in 1995 artistic director of the German Music School Orch., and in 1997 music director of the Schneidt-Bach Choir and Orch. in Tokyo. His all-embracing repertoire extends from Monteverdi to composers of the present day.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire