Christoph Spering, born June 23, 1959, in Rhein-Hunsrück, Germany, is a German conductor and church musician. He studied church music at the Cologne University of Music and Dance, earning an A‑Exam, and began his career as cantor of the Protestant parish in Cologne‑Mülheim in 1983, a position he held until 2025. In 1985, he founded Chorus Musicus Köln and in 1988 the Neue Orchester (New Orchestra), gaining international attention with the first performance of Mendelssohn’s 1841 version of Bach’s Matthäus‑Passion. His recordings include Cherubini: Les deux journées, Mozart: Requiem, Beethoven: Christ on the Mount of Olives, and Gluck: Iphigenia in Aulis. Spering received the ECHO Klassik award in 2011 for Mendelssohn: Elias and again in 2017 for Bach’s Luther cantatas, and was given the honorary title of Director of Church Music of the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland in 2005.
