The German conductor Andreas Spering was strongly influenced by his studies with Gerd Zacher in Essen, and by Reinhard Goebel’s renowned period instrument music ensemble Musica Antiqua Köln, where he was harpsichordist from 1990 to 1994. In recent years he has increasingly made a name for himself as a specialist in historical performing practice.
Since 1996 Andreas Spering has been Artistic Director of the Brühl Castle Concerts, as successor to Helmut Müller-Brühl. In this capacity he conducts operas in concert performance as well as symphony concerts.
In 1999 Andreas Spering was appointed Music Director of the Handel Festival at the Baden State Theatre in Karlsruhe, where he has conducted Scarlatti’s Il Trionfo dell’Onore, many Handel operas, and in 2004 a highly acclaimed new discovery, Reinhard Keiser’s opera Octavia.
In 2001 he made his début at the Fiftieth Handel Festival in Halle with Handel’s Rodrigo. Further afield he has conducted at the opera houses of Essen, Kiel and Potsdam. As a concert conductor he appeared in 2003 with the radio orchestra of the Bayerische Rundfunk, the Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra, followed by appearances with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Cologne (WDR), SWR Kaiserslautern, Symphony Orchestra of Osnabrück and of Stavanger, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Finland.
As an opera conductor Andreas Spering made his début at the Bern Opera in 2004 with a new production of Handel’s Giulio Cesare. In 2005 he conducted Mozart’s Entführung aus dem Serail at the Opera of Gothenburg, after which he has been immediately invited to return in 2005/06 for a production of Fidelio. In May 2005 he conducted Handel’s Rinaldo in Antwerp and Gent, taking on the production of Renée Jacobs, previously staged in Innbruck.
Four recordings with Andreas Spering were released recently: Handel’s Siroe and Imeneo, and a first ever recording of Reichardt’s Erwin und Elmire with Cappella Coloniensis. Their collaboration continued in a recording of early Haydn cantatas, given a Choc de la Musique award. In 2005 Naxos released Die Schöpfung by Haydn.
