ABBA

Arranger, chorus master, composer and conductor from Wiener Neustadt, Austria, who started out as a member of the Vienna Boys’ Choir and became its chorus master. Other groups with whom he has worked include the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, WDR Rundfunkchor Koln, and Wiener Symphoniker.

His tenure with the Vienna Boys’ Choir lasted from 1953 to 1965. On his watch, the Vienna Boys’ Choir made their big-screen debut in the 1962 Walt Disney film, Almost Angels. In 1963, he was in the music department for the made-for-TV movie, The Waltz King.

He became the choir director of the Vienna State Opera and the choral director of the Singverein der Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in 1968. He is listed as the co-director of the 1971 TV-movie, Die Zuckerbackerin. In 1974, he was nominated for a Grammy Award for his work as Chorus Master on a recording of Johann Sebastian Bach’s Matthaus-Passion. He conducted Giacomo Puccini’s La Boheme at the Banff Centre and was the Chorus Master for a production of Richard Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten in 1977. Recordings of Giuseppe Verdi’s Il Trovatore and Leos Janacek’s The Makropulos Affair hit the shelves in 1978.

More operas followed in the 1980s: Puccini’s Turandot was released in 1983; Helmuth directed scenes from Louis Spohr’s Faust on 11^th December 1984; and, Alban Berg’s Wozzeck was immortalized on videocassette in 1987. In 1988, he was nominated for another Grammy for a recording of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Requiem in D minor, K. 626.

The turn of the decade involved more operatic productions: Verdi’s Un Ballo in Machera was released on DVD; a recording of Modest Mussorgsky’s Khovanschchina, overhauled by Dmitri Shostakovich and Igor Stravinsky, surfaced in 1990; and, Helmuth led the Wiener Staatsoper in a production of Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin.

Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro was aired on television in 1991, Helmuth recorded Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov’s May Night in Cologne on 25^th September 1994, and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Leonore and Shostakovich: The Execution of Stepan Razin; Two Fables After Krylov; Intermezzi from Lady Macbeth of Mtensk arrived on CD.

The WDR Rundfunkchor Koln accompanied Jorg Durmuller in a 2002 recording of Otto Nicolai’s Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor. Other operatic recordings in the new millennium: Friedrich von Flotow’s Alessandro Stradella; Heinrich August Marschner’s Der Vampyr; Jules Massenet’s Manon; Jacques Offenbach’s Coscoletto; and, Hugo Wolf’s Das Fest auf Solhaug.

Helmuth is still active as the Honorary Conductor of the WDR Rundfunk Orchester Koln.

Placido Domingo recordings

Adeste Fidelis (Frederick Oakeley/John Francis Wade)

RCA Red Seal 53835 (CD: Placido Domingo & The Vienna Boys Choir)

Conductor – Helmuth Froschauer

Ensembles – Vienna Boys’ Choir/Vienna Symphony Orchestra

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