Matthias Böhlert was born in Zeitz which is in Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany. In his home town he received piano and organ lessons from Gunther Zimmerling. He sang in church and oratorio choirs and was, as a pupil, korrepetitor of the oratorio choir. Additionally he worked as honorary organist in different churches and gave organ recitals. From 1978 until 1984 he studied at the protestant church music school in Halle/Saale which is now known as the protestant high school for church music. His teacher for artistic organ playing was Almuth Reuter, who was organist at the Thomas Church in Leipzig. His teachers for conducting were Helmuth Gleim (Halle) and Georg-Christof Biller (choirmaster at the Thomas Church, Leipzig). During his studies he worked as an organist of the Stadtsingechor Halle (it is the oldest german boys' choir) and as an organist at central Marktkirche Unser Lieben Frauen in Halle. The A-examination ended with a public organ concert in the Thomaskirche Leipzig. Matthias Bohlert has been the organist and choirmaster at St. Katherine’s Church in Salzwedel since 1984. At the same time he has also been Salzwedel’s district organist and choirmaster. He was appointed leading church music director in 2004, this “in recognition of the excellent results of his work with choirs of all ages and his many activities in other church music fields and his particular service to the enlargement of church membership and the inner-German communication, all of which is well outside the town borders of Salzwedel” (A quotation of the leadership of the protestant church the ecclesiastical province of Magdeburg),

In 1990 he took part in the international summer academy for organists in Haarlem, the etherlands, where the tutors were: Ewald Kooiman, Daniel Roth and Montserrat Torrent. Regular organ recitals took him to Poland, Austria, Liechtensteinand also to important churches in Germany (the cathedrals of Stendal, Magdeburg and Schwerin; and churches in Rostock, Berlin, Potsdam, Halle/Saale, Frankfurt am Main, Kiel, Mühlhausen/Thüringen, Erfurt, etc.) In his frequent concert work he cultivates organ music from Barock to the 20th century.

In 2010 he played three organ concerts in the Evangelical Church of St. Paul,Vladivostok (Russia). He was also organist of the 15th German Culture Days in Vladivostok and gave a organ concert in the catholic parish of St. Michael in Tokyo in 2011. In 2012  he was as organist in the concert series „Bach @ Trinity 2012“ in the EKD theme year „Reformation and Music“ (within the Luther decade in preparation for the Reformation Jubilee 2017) to Melbourne (Australia). The patron was Leipzig Thomas Cantor Georg-Christoph Biller. In 2013 he had concerts in South Africa and Namibia  and in 2014 in Buenos Aires (cathedral and other churches). In 2015 he gave organ concerts in USA (Washington – famous Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate), New York (German Evancelical Lutheran Church of St. Paul's) and Canada (Ottawa and Montreal – Christ Church Cathedral).

2016  he had a concert tour to eastern and northern Europe: with organ concerts in the domes of Kaliningrad and Riga, as well as churches in Vilnius, Grodno (the only Protestant church in Belarus), Kiev, Kadrina (Estonia) and Helsinki. 2017 Organ concerts are planned in Warsaw, Sofia, Istanbul, Cyprus, Israel, Malta and Iceland.

As choirmaster of St. Katherine’s in Salzwedel he has performed the great oratorios and masses of the Barock period, the classics, the romantics and the contemporary. With well known soloists and members of the orchestra of the Comic Opera Berlin these have been repeatedly successful performances. The choir sings 2 to 3 oratorios each year with different programmes. The main points of these concerts are to perform the rarely performed works of famous composers, e.g. Mendelsohn Bartholdy’s (oratorios St. Paul, Elias and Christus; the “orchestra psalms”, etc.) and also J. S. Bach. Together with the New Bach Society of Leipzig, in which Mr Böhlert has been a member for decades, Bach cantata concerts are performed. The Salzwedel choir takes part in 1 to 2 of these concerts each year. Worthy of note here is the fact that Mr Böhlert, due to his great teaching ability, his competence and his charisma, has had great success since 1989 (when the two Germanys were reunited again) in the uniting of singers from the region of Altmark and neighbouring Lower Saxony to a harmonious choir. The Salzwedel choir consists of 80 to 100 singers during performances. In 2009 the choir was able to celebrate its 40th anniversary. At the anniversary concert in St. Katherine’s church – which included Vivaldi’s “Gloria” and Dvorak’s “Stabat Mater” – many former members of the choir also sang. In 2010 Bach’s Bminor-Mass will be performed. For 2011 a joint concert with the Steinway choir  from Bremen was planned (Bach’s “Ratswahlkantaten”). For 2012 the choir had rehearsed a 20th century work: A. Honeger’s oratorio “King David”. 2013: Mozart: Missa in c  KV 427; 2014: Verdi: „Requiem“; 2015: Fauré: Requiem“, Gounod: „Cäcilienmesse“. The Reformation cantatas and Magnificat in D Major by Johann Sebastian Bach are on the program in 2016.

Matthias Böhlert is additionally responsible for the rehearsals and performances of the children’s choir (2016: 50th anniversary), St. Katherine’s church choir and the OEcumenical Youth Choir in Salzwedel. He is also responsible for the annual concert series: “Salzwedel Church Music”.

The youth choir organises an annual concert tour, which has already taken them to different parts of Germany (Thüringen, Eichsfeld, Bavaria, and northern Germany) and to many European countries (Holland, Great Britain, Austria, Poland, Czech Republic, Russia, France, Italy, Hungary, Spain, Romania). The choir repertoire consists of Barock cantatas, gospels, gospel masses and oratorios. A particularly important event was the participation in the 29th international Hanse Day in Novgorod (Russia) in 2009 with the Rock Oratorio “Daniel” from Thomas Gabriel.

This year the choir traveled to Slovenia (Ljubljana) and Croatia (Zagreb). In 2017 the aim is Athens.

Mr Böhlert’s compositional creativity includes organ and piano works, solo voice and choral literature for use in church services and concerts. Here he bases his works consciously on traditional styles and forms.