13 Facts About Wolfgang Unger

Wolfgang Unger was a German conductor, especially a choral conductor, and an academic in Halle and Leipzig.

Wolfgang Unger founded several choirs and focused on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries.

Wolfgang Unger was a member of the Kreuzchor under Rudolf Mauersberger, serving as Erster Chorprafekt from 1965 to 1967.

Wolfgang Unger studied conducting, including choral conducting, at the Musikhochschule Weimar.

Wolfgang Unger was appointed Kapellmeister and choral conductor at the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Halle.

Wolfgang Unger was awarded the town's Handel Prize in 1985.

In 1987, Wolfgang Unger became artistic director of the Leipziger Universitatschor, and in 1991, Universitatsmusikdirektor of the University of Leipzig, where he taught choral conducting at the Hochschule fur Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig and at the Leipzig University.

Wolfgang Unger was interim Thomaskantor from 1991 after the resignation of Hans-Joachim Rotzsch.

Wolfgang Unger revived the Leipziger Universitatsmusik by creating the Pauliner Kammerorchester in 1992 and the Pauliner Barockensemble in 1994, both named after the original Paulinerkirche, which was dynamited by the East German regime in 1968.

Wolfgang Unger recorded secular cantatas by Bach in 2000 with the Leipziger Universitatschor and the Pauliner Barockensemble, the 1719 Die Zeit, die Tag und Jahre macht, BWV 134a, and the 1735 Die Freude reget sich, BWV 36b.

Wolfgang Unger recorded works by Hugo Distler, including Liturgische Satze with the Leipziger Universitatschor and the Pauliner Kammerochester in 2001.

Wolfgang Unger died from cancer on 19 April 2004 in Halle.

Wolfgang Unger had often conducted concerts on that occasion, as a statement of faith under the GDR regime.