Helmut Koch (5 April 1908 – 26 January 1975) was a German conductor, choir leader, composer, and academic teacher.

He conducted a recording of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo in 1949, and later also contemporary classical music by composers including Hanns Eisler, Fritz Geißler, Ernst Hermann Meyer and Ruth Zechlin.

[2] Although he had plans for a career as a conductor, he fulfilled his parents' wish to focus on pedagogy, and took a private music teacher's examination in 1928.

The latter suggested that he participate in a four-week music festival in Winterthur (Switzerland) as a violinist and viola player in order to broaden his knowledge of orchestral playing.

During this time, Scherchen decided to train Koch as a private student[3] and also helped him to find work as a sound engineer and assistant with conducting duties at the then Ostmarken Rundfunk AG [de] in Königsberg.

[7] Koch was a regular guest conductor at the Staatsoper Berlin from 1960 where he led Handel's Giulio Cesare and Ezio, among others.

[2] Koch's recordings of Monteverdi's L'Orfeo in 1949, with the Solistenvereinigung and the Kammerochester,[1][3] and of Folk songs and madrigals of the 17th and 18th centuries were awarded the Grand Prix du Disque.

Beginning in the 1960s, he recorded Mozart works, including the Great Mass in C minor and the operas Bastien und Bastienne and Der Schauspieldirektor.