Gudrun Schröfel

Gudrun Schröfel studied Music Education and Vocal Pedagogy at the Hanover University of Music and Drama, and perfected her studies with the aid of Eric Ericson, Helmut Rilling (conducting) and Arleen Auger (singing).
From 1975 to 1985, she was conductor of the choir and orchestra at an upper secondary school with an emphasis on music. 1986 saw her become Professor of Music Education at the FolkwangHochschule, a university for advanced music studies in the city of Essen. She held this post for three years before moving to the Hanover University of Music and Drama to take up the same position, where she's currently Vice President.

Gudrun Schröfel is conductor of both the award-winning Mädchenchor Hannover and the Johannes-Brahms-Chor Hannover, both winners of the Award for semi professional choirs at the Deutscher Chorwettbewerb, Germany's most prestigious amateur choir competition.


Her dual role as vocal trainer and conductor of a choir meant Gudrun Schröfel developed a deeper interest in combining these two challenging areas of vocal profession, exploring and refining her knowledge in this field during the course of her choral teaching. Of those students trained under her methods, a large number have been recognised at the highly-renowned German music competition Jugend musiziert, many also opting to undertake Vocal Studies, with some even becoming professional opera singers at numerous opera houses all around the country.

Since 1994, Gudrun Schröfel has received invitations both as a tutor for international choir leader study seminars, and as a juror for choir competitions in Israel, the United States and Japan, amongst others.

She has represented ADC, the union of German choirs, on the German Music Council's advisory panel since 2000. She has also repeatedly worked with regional state youth choirs from across Germany, and as a vocal trainer for the European Youth Choir (Europa Cantat) under the direction of Frieder Bernius.

Gudrun Schröfel was awarded the Niedersächsischer Kunstpreis Musik (Lower Saxony Art Prize for Music) in 1998, and holds the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit of Lower Saxony since 2004.