Biography

Volker Hedtfeld was born in Dortmund and discovered his passion for singing at an early age. He gained his first experience as a choirmaster in youth and church choirs at the age of 17. He initially studied school music in Cologne. Inspired by his participation in various choir conducting seminars, he switched to studying conducting. He was particularly influenced by his encounters with Prof Gerd Müller-Lorenz (Lübeck University of Music), Dr Bodo Bischoff (FU Berlin) and Prof Kurt Hofbauer (University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna). In Berlin, he studied orchestral conducting with Prof Lutz Köhler at the University of the Arts. He later continued his training with Prof Jörg-Peter Weigle at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin, where he studied choral conducting.

In 1999, Volker Hedtfeld founded his first vocal ensemble, Opus 99, with which he was successful in concerts in the Ruhr and Rhineland. In 2001, he took over the direction of the choir of the Reformationskirche in Berlin-Tiergarten and was co-initiator of the „Long Night of Choirs“, which has existed ever since. In 2002, he founded the chamber choir opus vocale, with which he has since performed mainly in Berlin. Since 2007, Volker Hedtfeld has been the conductor and artistic director of the renowned Karl Forster Choir, with which he regularly performs large choral-symphonic works in the Berlin Philharmonie, the Konzerthaus Berlin and the „Großer Sendesaal“ des rbb.

In 2009, together with baroque violinist Monique Steffen, he founded the chamber orchestra ensemble callinus, which specialises in the performance practice of early music. Together with flutist and composer Aaron Dan, he founded ensemble polisono berlin in 2019, a chamber ensemble that brings together selected soloists from Berlin. The ensemble is committed to the contemporary performance of historical music on the one hand, but also to the discovery and promotion of contemporary compositions on the other.

Volker Hedtfeld has been the director of the Deutsch-Französischer Chor Berlin since 2021. In the summer of 2022, he founded the Hermann-Ober-Ensembles for the New Apostolic Church North-East.