Herbert Schuch, Bavarian Radio Chorus & Peter Dijkstra
Biography Herbert Schuch, Bavarian Radio Chorus & Peter Dijkstra
Peter Dijkstra
is one of the most prominent choir conductors of our time. He studied choir conducting, orchestral conducting and solo singing at the conservatories of The Hague, Cologne and Stockholm and obtained his diplomas summa cum laude with distinction.
After a long period as principal guest conductor, Dijkstra became chief conductor of the Netherlands Chamber Choir in September 2015. In addition, he has been reappointed as artistic director of the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks since 2022, a position he also held from 2005 to 2016. Under his leadership, this ensemble developed into an internationally acclaimed and versatile vocal ensemble. From 2007 to 2018, Dijkstra was appointed chief conductor of the Swedish Radio Choir, following in the footsteps of the legendary Eric Ericson. In 2019, he was appointed Honorary Conductor by this renowned choir.
In addition to his work with these ensembles, he is a welcome guest with many renowned professional choirs in Europe, such as the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin, the WDR, MDR and NDR Rundfunkchöre, Accentus, Gulbenkian Choir, SWR Vokalensemble, the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir and the BBC Singers.
Dijkstra is also a welcome guest with renowned orchestras. He has been guest conductor with, among others, the Symphonieorchester und Rundfunkorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, Deutsche Symphonieorchester Berlin, Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Münchener Kammerorchester, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra, the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Japan Philharmonic Orchestra and in the Netherlands with, among others, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Residentie Orchestra and the Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. In addition, he regularly collaborates with baroque orchestras such as Concerto Köln, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, B’Rock and Freiburger Barockorchester.
He is widely regarded as a specialist in the field of vocal music, and feels at home in a wide spectrum of musical styles, from medieval polyphony to contemporary music. He has premiered compositions by composers such as Esa-Pekka Salonen, Lera Auerbach, Erik Esenvalds, Joost Kleppe, Jacob Mülrad, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Caroline Shaw, Martin Smolka and JacobTV, and is a passionate advocate for young compositional talent in choral music.
His interpretations of the great oratorios of Mozart, Handel and Bach have been released on CD under the BR Klassik label and have won several awards. He has won two ECHO Klassik awards for Fauré’s Requiem (Sony Classics) and Schnittke’s Choir Concerto (BR Klassik), two Diapason d’Ors for an album with works by Strauss, Wagner and Mahler (BR Klassik) and Poulenc’s Figure humaine (Channel Classics), the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik for his recording of J.S. Bach’s St. John’s Passion and was nominated for two Grammys. The recording with choral works by Anton Bruckner (BR Klassik) was awarded with the International Classical Music Awards. His CD with a capella choral works by Johannes Brahms was awarded an Edison Klassiek.
Dijkstra is committed to the young generation of conductors and regularly gives masterclasses, including at the Dirigentenforum des Deutschen Musikrates, the Lund International Conducting Masterclass and the Dirigentenforum des Chores des Bayerischen Rundfunks. In the period 2016-2020, Dijkstra was appointed Professor of Choral Conducting at the Musikhochschule in Cologne, and from October 2023 he is holding this position at the Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg.
With various ensembles, Dijkstra has been a guest at renowned festivals, such as the Salzburger Festspiele, Lucerne Festival, Hong Kong International Music Festival, White Light Festival New York and the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival. He is an honorary member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, and was awarded the Golden Violin, a prize for internationally established musicians from the Northern Netherlands, and the Eugen Jochum Prize.
Herbert Schuch
is a pianist who not only makes music sound, but also makes it speak. His credo of understanding music as language and dialogue has run like a common thread throughout his impressive career. For more than twenty years, he has enriched the international piano scene with concert and recording programmes distinguished by their carefully considered dramaturgy.
Born in 1979 in Romania’s Banat region, Schuch grew up as part of the German-speaking minority. In 1988, his family emigrated to Germany—an experience that, for him, felt like a return to familiar surroundings. At the age of twelve, he began his studies with Karl-Heinz Kämmerling at the Mozarteum University Salzburg. Alfred Brendel later became an important mentor and formative influence.
His repertoire is exceptionally broad in stylistic terms. He feels equally connected to the canonical works of Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Beethoven and Schumann, to contemporary composers and to influences from the Middle East. His concert programmes often emerge from creative exchanges with other musicians, including pianist Gülru Ensari, with whom he has released numerous recordings as a duo, as well as clarinettist Sebastian Manz, cellist Daniel Müller-Schott and the music collective Franui.
His discography now comprises more than 20 albums, including award-winning recordings of rarely performed piano concertos by Erwin Schulhoff and Viktor Ullmann with the WDR Symphony Orchestra. In 2022 alone, he released four new albums, underscoring his artistic versatility. Most recently, the French label naïve, with which Schuch is an exclusive artist, released his recording of both piano concertos by Johannes Brahms with the Bochum Symphony Orchestra conducted by Tung-Chieh Chuang.
Schuch’s artistic curiosity is also reflected in his appearances at some of the world’s most renowned concert halls, from the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg and the Vienna Konzerthaus to the Kennedy Center in Washington. He has worked with orchestras including the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Munich Philharmonic, Camerata Salzburg and many others. His distinguished collaborators have included conductors such as Pierre Boulez, Kent Nagano, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Markus Poschner. He shares his passion for chamber music with artists including Julia Fischer, Nicolas Altstaedt and Maximilian Hornung.
A particular focal point of Schuch’s artistic work is his own concert series in Neubeuern, an enchanting location overlooking the Bavarian Alps. Here, he creates a space for musical encounters and enables an intense exchange between artists and audiences—in keeping with his credo of making music speak.
Alongside his concert career, Herbert Schuch is passionately committed to introducing classical music to young people, for example through the initiative “Rhapsody in School”, founded by Lars Vogt. Since October 2025, he has also taught his own class at the University of Music, Drama and Media Hannover.
For him, the purpose of his musical work lies in reaching people emotionally: “If, after a concert, even just one listener comes up to me and says that they had tears in their eyes, or that the music awakened a beautiful memory in them, then I know that my work as a musician has a purpose, because music helps us to feel human.”
