THE CONDUCTOR
Winfried Toll studied theology and philosophy before he devoted himself
to studying composition and teaching music. After his musical exams further
voice studies with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf and Aldo Baldin followed, an invitation
for teaching voice at the academy of music in Freiburg, Germany, and a lot
of activities as a concert- and opera-singer.
During this time Winfried Toll also began his carreer as a conductor. In 1988 he took over the direction of the "Camerata vocale Freiburg". He has been invited as guest conductor by renowned ensembles such as "Concerto Koeln", the "Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie", the "Freiburger Barockorchester", the "Balthasar-Neumann-Chor", the "Sueddeutscher Rundfunkchor" and the "RIAS-Kammerchor". In 1994 he has been engaged as choir director of the "Koelner Bachverein" and guest professor in Tokio. In the fall of 1997 Winfried Toll has been appointed professor for choir direction at the academy of music and performing arts in Frankfurt. 2007 Winfried Toll became principal guest conductor of the Daejeon Philharmonic Choir in South Korea.
Already during his studies Winfried Toll had a lot of success as a composer. The organ piece "Wegkreuze" won the "Altenburger Dom"-prize in 1980, in 1981 he won a prize for "Psalm 13" for soloists, chorus and orchestra. In 1985 he won an award at the international Bach academy in Stuttgart (Germany) for "Wenn ich dein je vergesse" for 16 solo voices and mixed choir. The first performance took place under participiation of the FRANKFURTER KANTOREI. In 1989 he finished "Tu es pulchra" for the International Symposium of Choral Music in Louisville, Kentucky for four french horns and double chorus.
The festival "Stimmen" (Voices) in Loerrach, Germany, comissioned Winfried Toll to compose a work for the Raschèr-Saxophone-Quartet and chamber chorus. The piece „Reverie“ had it's first performance in July 2001. Meanwhile guest professorships in Korea and Czechia followed. Many invitations as a guest conductor at various festivals (Torino, Biennale of Venice) complete his artistic activities.