Gabriel Dessauer

He is the conductor of the 107-member Chor von St. Bonifatius, founded in 1862, of the children's choir Kinderchor von St. Bonifatius, and of the Schola for Gregorian chant.

The church choir sings at services, including regular orchestral masses by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert for Christmas and Easter, accompanied by members of the orchestra of the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, with soloists from the Hochschule für Musik Mainz such as Andreas Karasiak and students.

On Dessauer's initiative, the organ built in 1954 was refurbished by Hugo Mayer Orgelbau in 1985.

Every year, typically on 3 October, German Unity Day, Dessauer has conducted choral concerts of works such as Mendelssohn's Elias, Ein deutsches Requiem of Brahms, and Verdi's Messa da Requiem.

Gabriel Dessauer (born 4 December 1955) is a German cantor, concert organist, and academic teacher.

Dessauer was the organist for services at the Kolleg St. Blasien 1971–1974, then at the Akademie Tutzing for one year and conductor of the choir of the Protestant parish in Tutzing.

He received his Abitur at the Kolleg St. Blasien in 1974.

He then studied church music at the Richard-Strauss-Konservatorium in Munich for a year, studying organ with Elmar Schloter.

From 1975 to 1980, he studied church music and concert organ at the Musikhochschule München with Diethard Hellmann and Klemens Schnorr.

From 1975 to 1981 he was cantor of St. Andreas in Munich.

After studies with Diethard Hellmann and Franz Lehrndorfer, he was responsible for the church music at St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden from 1981 to 2021, conducting the Chor von St. Bonifatius until 2018.

Besides normal church services, he conducted them in regular masses with soloists and orchestra for Christmas and Easter and a yearly concert.

Dessauer has been the cantor at St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden, the central Catholic church in the capital of Hesse, since 1981.

He continued his studies with Franz Lehrndorfer and received the Meisterklassendiplom (master class diploma) in 1982.

He was a member of Karl Richter's Münchener Bach-Chor.

In 1985 Dessauer founded a project choir, later named Reger-Chor, dedicated to rarely performed sacred music for choir and organ.

It developed into a German-Belgian collaboration, with regular concerts at the St. Salvator's Cathedral in Bruges.

Dessauer is an internationally-known organ recitalist.

He has lectured at international conferences, especially about the music of Max Reger, who was a member of the St. Bonifatius parish.

Dessauer appeared with the Chor von St. Bonifatius in Azkoitia and San Sebastián on a Cavaillé-Coll-organ (1986) at both churches, at the Limburg Cathedral (1987), in St. Jakobus, Görlitz (1990), and in Memphis, Tennessee (1996).

In 1995 he prepared the choir for a memorial concert commemorating the 50th anniversary of the end of World War II, performing Britten's War Requiem with choirs from countries involved in the war, and concerts in Wiesbaden and Macon, Georgia.

He was an organ teacher on the faculty of the Hochschule für Musik Mainz from 1995 to 2013.

Dessauer was born in Würzburg, the son of Guido Dessauer and his wife Gabrielle.

Programs of choral concerts included Hermann Suter's Le Laudi in 1998, the German premiere of Rutter's Mass of the Children in 2004, and the world premiere of Colin Mawby's Bonifatiusmess in 2012 which he had commissioned for the choir's 150th anniversary.

Both Chor and Kinderchor appeared in performances of Hermann Suter's Le Laudi (1998 and 2007), and in the German premiere of John Rutter's Mass of the Children in 2004.

In 2006, Dessauer conducted Karl Jenkins's Requiem, composed in 2004.

The concert of 2008, Vivaldi's Gloria and Haydn's Nelson Mass, was also performed at San Paolo dentro le Mura in Rome.

They appeared in Rome in 2008, when they performed Vivaldi's Gloria and Haydn's Nelson Mass in San Paolo dentro le Mura in concert, and sang during mass at St. Peter's Basilica.

In 2010, he chose works by Bach, including his Mass in G minor and choral movements from cantatas BWV 140, BWV 12, BWV 120 and Wir danken dir, Gott, wir danken dir, BWV 29.

The Musikwochen 2010, Reger und mehr ("Reger and more"), presented concerts given by Kent Tritle and Ignace Michiels, among others.

In 2011 they performed the Mass No. 1 in B major by Johann Nepomuk Hummel, and Hans Leo Hassler's Missa super Dixit Maria in 2012.

In 2011 he conducted Haydn's Die Schöpfung.

The children's choir sang along with the soprano.

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the choir in 2012, Dessauer commissioned Colin Mawby to compose the Missa solemnis Bonifatius-Messe.

Mawby wrote the Mass in 2011 for the forces available at the church (soprano, choir, children's choir, oboe and organ), and the work was premiered on 3 October 2012.

The organist was Ignace Michiels from St. Salvator's Cathedral in Bruges, soprano Natascha Jung, and oboist Leonie Dessauer.

A second performance took place on 3 November in the Frankfurter Dom, with organist Andreas Boltz.

In 2013 he performed Schubert's Mass No. 6 along with his Unfinished Symphony.

The concert of 2014 was John Rutter's Magnificat.

Dessauer first continued the tradition of the Stunde der Kirchenmusik ("hour of church music") monthly concert, and then began a series Boni-Musikwochen instead, grouping choral and organ concerts around a theme within the span of one to two weeks.