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The German choral conductor, musicologist and music pedagogue, Richard Mailänder, studied church music, musicology and history at the Musikhochschule Köln and the Universität zu Köln.
Richard Mailänder initially worked as a church musician at Kirche St. Margareta in Neunkirchen and from 1980 to 1987 as Kantor at St. Pantaleon in Köln. From October 1987 to April 2024, he succeeded Karl-Heinrich Hodes as Archdiocesan Church Music Director (since 2006) and Head of the Church Music Department in the Erzbistum Köln. In this role, he was involved in the conception and realization of the new Katholischen Gebet- und Gesangbuches Gotteslob, published in 2013. He has published numerous articles in journals and books on church music, especially on choral topics, and is the (co-)editor of popular choir volumes and textbooks..
From 1993 to 2002, Richard Mailänder was chairman of the Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Ämter und Referate für Kirchenmusik der Diözesen Deutschlands. After a teaching position at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf, he took up in 2000 a position as a lecturer for liturgical singing at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, where he was appointed Honorary Professor in 2014. He is the founder and director of the Figuralchor Köln.
In October 2021, Richard Mailänder was awarded the Federal Cross of Merit "for his services to the international relations of choir conductors and composers and his artistic work with the Cologne Figural Choir." In May 2024, he was honored with the Orlando-di-Lasso-Medaille of the Allgemeinen Cäcilienverbands für Deutschland. |
