Curriculum vitae

Fritz Heller

Fritz Heller was born in 1952 and began making renaissance woodwind instruments in 1980. Since 1983 he has pursued a career as a leading freelance cornetto player and from 2003 onwards he has been a member of the research group "Freiberg" at the University of Leipzig investigating the instruments found in the funeral chapel of Freiberg Cathedral.

Instrument making:

  • Cornetti
  • Mute cornetti
  • Renaissance traverso’s
  • Bagpipes
  • Shawms
  • Instrument making courses in Breiteneich and Haarlem

Further information on musical instruments can be found under Instruments on this site.

Collaboration with leading Early Baroque ensembles:

Opera productions:

  • Orfeo by Cl. Monteverdi: Opera stichting Amsterdam
  • Poppea by Cl. Monteverdi: De Nederlandse Opera und Brooklyn Academy of Music

Personal Projects:

  • Heinrich Schütz: Christmas oratorio Haarlem, Rotterdam
  • Claudio Monteverdi: Vespers Aachen , Hannover, Rostock, Greifswald
  • Marian vespers from inedited sources in San Petronio Bologna in Leeuwarden and Aachen
  • The protestant mass in Aachen, Eisenach
  • Unedited music from Aachen, Liège, Maastricht
  • Urbs Aquensis I,II together with the Aachener Bachverein
  • Ballet production "Carmina burana" together with the municipal ballet, Aachen

Contemporary Music Productions:

  • La tragédie du vengeur/Henri Pousseur
  • The hours of Maria van Cleve/Charly Morrow - with Camerata Trajectina
  • Liturgien/Maurizio Kagel- with Brabants orkest, Reinbert de Leeuw

Interdisciplinary Projects:

  • "Die italienische Reise": The export of Flemish polyphony to Italy, the development of the early baroque style and the return of this modern music to the countries North of the Alps.
  • "Begehren und Aufbegehren": The role of emancipated women in art, literature and music from the Middle Ages to the Baroque era.
  • "Kein Hundeleben für Bartolomé": The biography of a handicapped boy at the court of Phillipp IV at the time of Velazquez.
  • "Der weiße Elefant": Dialogue and controversy of the three monotheistic religions from the Middle Ages until now. Together with Hoite Pruiksma and Peter te Nuyl.

CDs featuring ensemble Barocco locco:

  • "Je ne vais plus à la guerre", Music from the 16th and 17th centuries from the region Aachen, Liège, Maastricht (Musique en Wallonie/Cypres 1999)
  • "Das Hohelied Salomonis" The song of songs of Salomo, set on music by the Aachen composer Reichardus Mangon (Cantabile 2005) with edition of sheet music
  • Soweit die Wolken gehen - A musical journey from Leiden to St. Petersburg (ENOC 2005)
  • "Spaerens vreuchden bron" – Haarlem city of music in the Golden Age (Aliud 2008) with edition of sheet music

CDs featuring ensemble Rabaskadol:

  • Stadsmuzikanten: Waits and carillon players in the Golden Age (VVV Monickendam 1998)
  • "In principio" - Music of the wind ensemble of the Graz court chapel in the original scores of ms. A.R. 775-777 of Regensburg (Aliud 2005)
  • "Martin Peudargent - Musician at the court of Jülich- Kleve-Berg 1585 (Aliud 2007) with edition of sheet music
  • "In Passione Domini" - Passion music from Holland from the 16th and 20th centuries (Aliud 2010)

Details on all CDs can be found under CDs and editions where you can also listen to selected tracks.