Christian Bischof
Biography Christian Bischof
Christian Bischof
The organist and conductor Christian Bischof was born in Bamberg and since 2013 has been in charge of the music in the Sankt Margaret Parish Church in Munich. In 2020 he was appointed assistant diocesan director of music, in which capacity he is responsible for training young church musicians in the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising and at the Cantorial School in Munich. His activities include head of the Diocesan St Cecilia Society in Munich-Freising, which is itself a part of the General St Cecilia Society. He is also a certified organ consultant with the Association of German Organ Consultants. Above all, he is in international demand as a concert organist.
Christian Bischof sees his musical roots in vocal music, a perspective that derives from his time at the Grammar School of the Regensburg Domspatzen (Regensburg Boys’ Choir). On leaving school, he studied Catholic church music at the University of Music in Würzburg and at the Piteå School of Music in Sweden. His main subjects here were the organ and choral conducting. During this period he also received a bursary from the Cusanus Study Foundation of the German Bishops’ Conference. He completed his studies in 2011 with a masterclass diploma in the organ. Artistically speaking, his most formative teachers were Christoph Bossert and Hans-Ola Ericsson (organ), Zsolt Gárdonyi (organ and music theory) and Jörg Straube (choral conducting). As a church musician and organist Christian Bischof has held appointments in Bamberg and Würzburg and at the Benedictine Abbey in Scheyern, on each occasion leaving a lasting mark on the institution in question. He was additionally artistic director of the Nuremberg Chamber Choir.
In 2011 Christian Bischof played a significant part in redesigning the tonal scheme of the symphonic organ in Würzburg’s St Augustine’s Church. His research on organ building in the Munich metropolitan region in the years between 1900 and 1960 focused in particular on the life and work of the organ builder Albert Moser, who was a lasting influence on the changes affecting the types of sonorities sought by German organ builders and who as a professional lived through the developments that took place in organ building between late Romanticism and the extremes of the German Organ Movement.
Christian Bischof has lectured on the organ at Würzburg’s University of Music as well as giving masterclasses and sitting on the jury at national and international competitions. Recital tours have taken him to much of Europe and also to the United States and Russia. He has given numerous recitals at conferences held by the American Guild of Organists and was artist in residence at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
Christian Bischof is interested in historically informed performance practice and as a conductor enjoys working with period ensembles. His repertory as an organist covers a vast range from the earliest organ music of the Middle Ages to the modern period. His performances of works by Reger and his involvement in a performance of all of Messiaen’s organ works in Würzburg attracted international attention. His work as an organist is documented not only by CD recordings but also on various social media platforms.
