Christmas elegance graces the Amberg City Theatre with soloist Christoph Huntgeburth's performance
Christoph Huntgeburth, a renowned first flute player of the Academy for Ancient Music Berlin, has graced the Stadt theater Amberg twice, showcasing his exceptional skills in the realm of Baroque music. This versatile artist finds a striking similarity between improvisation in Baroque music and jazz, two seemingly disparate genres.
In both traditions, creativity and spontaneity thrive within a structured framework. In the Baroque era, musicians would improvise ornamentation, figured bass continuations, and embellishments, guided by established rules and stylistic conventions. This allowed for personal expression and inventiveness, making performances vibrant and dynamic.
Jazz, too, revolves around spontaneous creation, with improvisers crafting original, expressive solos over a harmonic structure. Both genres require a deep understanding of theory, scales, and styles to navigate the improvisational landscape successfully.
Christoph Huntgeburth highlights this comparison, stating that both Baroque and jazz improvisation involve "real-time composition"—musicians actively composing music as they play—within clearly defined frameworks. Both traditions balance freedom and constraints, using improvisation to bring personal expression, variation, and vitality to performances rather than playing everything strictly as written.
The Academy for Ancient Music Berlin is set to return to Amberg for a festive performance during the Christmas season, with Christoph Huntgeburth and Xenia Löffler, his seat neighbour in the orchestra for over 30 years, taking on the roles of soloist and solo oboist, respectively.
Outside of the concert hall, Christoph Huntgeburth is an avid practitioner of extreme water sports, including windsurfing and kitesurfing. He credits these hobbies for providing the concentration and physical condition that enhance his flute playing.
Christoph Huntgeburth's workshop mainly focuses on restoration work due to his busy schedule as a soloist, orchestra, and chamber musician, and teacher. However, his profound knowledge extends beyond playing techniques and interpretations to the craft of making historical flutes. Self-taught in this art, he owns a lathe and has taught himself most of the flute-making process, including metal turning.
Since 1984, Christoph Huntgeburth has been a professor at the University of the Arts Berlin, imparting his wealth of knowledge to the next generation of musicians. For his performances at the Stadt theater Amberg, he uses original flutes of historical construction that fit the epoch and composer, demonstrating his deep understanding of the Baroque era.
Christoph Huntgeburth's performances at the Stadt theater Amberg were marked by the "friendly acoustics and atmosphere," making them memorable experiences for both the performer and the audience. As he continues to balance his career as a musician with his passion for extreme water sports and instrument making, Christoph Huntgeburth remains a captivating figure in the world of Baroque music.
