Born in Barmen (now part of Wuppertal),[1] Kahlhöfer studied Protestant church music at the Musikhochschule Köln, organ with Heinrich Boell and Michael Schneider, piano with Karl Hermann Pillnay, and choral conducting with Otto Siegl [de].
In 1966 he conducted a recording of Johann Sebastian Bach's "Jesu meine Freude" (Motette zu fünf Stimmen BWV 227) and Johannes Brahms's "Fest- und Gedenksprüche" (opus 109, Motette für achtstimmigen Doppelchor) and Warum ist das Licht gegeben dem Mühseligen?
[3] Fritz Christian Gerhard [de] dedicated in 1965 his cantata Jerusalem to him and the choir: "Für Helmut Kahlhöfer und die Kantorei Barmen-Gemarke“.
They recorded Bach's motets in 1963 with the Collegium Aureum, and several of his cantatas including Schauet doch und sehet, ob irgend ein Schmerz sei, BWV 46, in 1960 and Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, BWV 61, in 1966, with the ensemble Deutsche Bachsolisten.
[1] The Mass was also recorded that year with soloists Mitsuko Shirai, Hildegard Laurich, Karl Markus [de] and Andreas Schmidt.