To this day, the office of Kreuzkantor is one of the most honourable and prestigious offices in Protestant church music. The 29th Kreuzkantor after the Reformation has been Martin Lehmann since 2022.
Kreuzkantor Martin Lehmann was himself a Crucian and received extensive musical training while still at school. Awarded the Rudolf-Mauersberger Scholarship, he studied choral conducting at the "Carl Maria von Weber" College of Music in Dresden with Prof. Hans-Christoph Rademann. During his studies, Lehmann assisted him as artistic assistant to the Dresden Chamber Choir and held a teaching position at the Dresden Academy of Music. Lehmann completed his postgraduate studies in choral conducting and orchestral conducting with distinction.
His work with choirs has shaped his career. In 1995, Martin Lehmann founded the chamber choir "Cantamus Dresden", in which former Crucians still sing today. From 2001 to 2011 he conducted various choirs in Leipzig and Wuppertal and in 2012 took over the artistic direction of the Windsbacher Knabenchor.
His repertoire includes the great oratorio works of Bach, Handel, Mozart and Mendelssohn as well as sacred and secular a cappella choral music of all periods. His extensive work is documented in numerous CDs, radio and television recordings. In the process, Martin Lehmann and the Windsbachers also ventured into new territory with the first recording of early baroque music by the Nuremberg composer Johann Staden (April 2015). The most recent recording is the album Water & Spirit, sacred a cappella music spanning five centuries, with percussionist Simone Rubino.
As a choral conductor, Martin Lehman has worked with numerous renowned orchestras such as the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Dresdner Barockorchester, the Deutsche Kammer-Virtuosen Berlin, the WDR Big Band, the Concerto Palatino, the Ensemble 1704 Prague and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin.
With the Windsbacher Knabenchor, Martin Lehmann regularly took part in festivals and gave guest performances at major German concert halls (Alte Oper Frankfurt, Konzerthaus Berlin, Elbphilharmonie, Thomaskirche Leipzig, Dresdner Frauenkirche, Herkulessaal Munich, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden).
In addition, he has travelled to other European countries, the USA, China and India, performing in international venues such as the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, the Oriental Art Center Shanghai and the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica in Rome.
In May 2017, Lehmann was appointed Church Music Director (KMD). With this award, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria recognises Lehmann's services to church music through his work with the Windsbacher Knabenchor.
After an extensive selection process, Martin Lehmann was nominated as the 29th Kreuzkantor in 2021. Since September 2022, he has succeeded Roderich Kreile as Intendant and Kreuzkantor at the Dresdner Kreuzchor.