| David Erler | |
| Birth Place: | Auerbach, Saxony, Germany |
| Education: | Musikhochschule Leipzig |
| Organization: | Breitkopf & Härtel |
David Erler (born 1981) is a German countertenor, a male classical singer in the alto vocal range, specialising in Baroque music in historically informed performance. He is also a music editor for Breitkopf & Härtel.
Erler was born in Auerbach (Vogtland). He attended the musical gymnasium Clara-Wieck-Gymnasium in Zwickau, and studied at the Musikhochschule Leipzig with Maria Jonas and mainly Marek Rzepka, on a scholarship of the Hanns Seidel Foundation, graduating in 2006. He took masterclasses with Andreas Scholl, Marius van Altena and The King’s Singers.
In the field of historically informed performance, Erler has collaborated as a soloist with conductors such as Manfred Cordes, Laurence Cummings, Philippe Herreweghe,, Jos van Immerseel, Wolfgang Katschner, Rudolf Lutz, Hermann Max, Gregor Meyer, Peter Neumann, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Ludger Rémy, Gotthold Schwarz, Jos van Veldhoven, Adam Viktora and Roland Wilson. He has appeared as a guest singer with vocal ensembles amarcord, Calmus Ensemble, Singer Pur, Singphoniker and Stimmwerck.
In 2002, he performed the alto part in a recorded performance of Bach's St John Passion with the Leipziger Oratorienchor, with Martin Krumbiegel both conducting and singing the part of the Evangelist. In 2013, Erler was one of the five guests of the ensemble amarcord for the performance of Monteverdi's Vespers as the annual Marienvesper of the Rheingau Musik Festival in Eberbach Abbey, with the Lautten Compagney conducted by Wolfgang Katschner. In Bach's Mass in B minor, he sang the alto part, including soprano II in duets with soprano Gabriela Eibenová, in St. Martin, Idstein, with the orchestra L'arpa festante. He appeared in a 2004 recording of works by David Pohle, a student of Heinrich Schütz, by the same orchestra conducted by Rien Voskuilen. A reviewer noted that the soloists, also Monika Mauch and Hans Jörg Mammel, brought the music "to life in a most elegant and expressive way".
Erler is a member and soloist of the Dresdner Kammerchor, conducted by Hans-Christoph Rademann. A review of their complete recording of the works by Heinrich Schütz noted about the eight soloists performing Kleine geistliche (Little Sacred Concertos): "Whether solo, duo or in other combinations the voices are finely scaled, appropriately clear, purely focused and idiomatic".
He is the chief editor of Johann Kuhnau's complete vocal works with Breitkopf & Härtel. He also published Jan Dismas Zelenka's Requiem (ZWV 46) with the same publishing company.