Helmuth Rilling (b. May 29, 1933) is a German conductor.

He was born in Stuttgart into a musical family. He received his early training in protestant seminaries in Württemberg. From 1952 to 1955, he studied organ, composition, and choral conducting at the Stuttgart College of Music. He completed his studies with Fernando Germani in Rome and at the Accademia Muicala Chigiana in Siena.

While still a student in 1954, he founded his first choir, the Gächinger Kantorei . Starting in 1957, he was organist and choirmaster at the Stuttgart Gedächtniskirche. From 1963 to 1966, he built up the Spandau Choir, while teaching organ and choral conducting.

In 1969, he took over as conductor of the Frankfurt Choir and was appointed a professor at the Frankfurt Music College, in which post he continued until 1986. Since 1965, he has conducted the Stuttgart Bach Collegium, which often performs with the Gächinger Kantorei. He has toured widely with both ensembles.

He is considered the world's leading expert on the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and his contemporaries. He is the first person to have prepared and recorded the complete choral works of J.S. Bach, a monumental task involving well over 1,000 pieces of music and spanning 170 compact discs. He is also considered an expert on romantic and classical choral and orchestral works, including the works of Johannes Brahms.

Rilling is also the co-founder and artistic director of the Oregon Bach Festival .