Herbert Böck received his first musical education as a member of the Vienna Boys Choir. As soprano soloist he appeared in the recordings of Bach Cantatas with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the Concentus Musicus.

He studied oboe, conducting, composition and music education at the Vienna Academy of Music. From 1985-90 he held the position of principal oboist with the Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna.

In his capacity as chief conductor of the Concentus Vocalis, he achieved early recognition and awards at international competitions, including the first prize in the category chamber choir and overall first prize at the competition of the European Broadcasting Union (Helsinki, 1987). From 1989-98 he was musical director of the Wiener Singakademie involving regular conducting commitments at the Vienna  Konzerthaus.

In 1989 Herbert Böck was appointed chief conductor of the Wiener Jeunesse Orchester, the national youth symphony orchestra of Austria. In 1995 he was appointed professor of choral and ensemble conducting at the Salzburg University of Music Mozarteum.

As orchestral conductor he has worked with the Wind Ensemble of the Wiener Philharmoniker, the Wiener Kammerorchester, the Akademie St. Michael Wien, the Wiener Akademie, the Mozarteum Orchester Salzburg and Niederösterreichisches Tonkünstlerorchester. At the Vienna Konzerthaus he conducted important choral-symphonic works, such as Honegger's oratorio Le Roi David, Orff Carmina Burana, Bach St. John-Passion and High Mass in B-Minor, Kagel St. Bach-Passion, and a concert series with Handel oratorios including Jephtha, The Messiah, Solomon and Judas Maccabaeus. In March 1998, he directed a highly acclaimed performance of Frank Martin's oratorio Golgotha (including CD-production).

Various concert tours have taken him in the past few years to all over Europe, Russia, Israel and the USA. He conducted concerts with the Orchestra Santa Cecilia di Roma, the Brno Philharmonic, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, the Slovenia Philharmonic Ljubljana, the RSO Budapest, the Letvian National Symphony Orchestra and worked with the Radio Choirs of the WDR Cologne, the MDR Leipzig, the Rundfunkchor Berlin, the RIAS-Kammerchor Berlin (for productions with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Simon Rattle), and with the Berkshire Choral Festival  in the USA.

In 1997 Herbert Böck made his debut at Den Norske Opera Oslo, followed by his debut in 1998 with the Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra. Since then he has been working regularly with both orchestras including productions at Den Norske Opera of MozartThe Magic Flute (April 2000) and Handel Jephtha (April 2001), and performances of Bach High Mass in B-Minor with the Oslo Philharmonic (Dec. 2000). In 2001 Herbert Böck made his debuts with Göteborg Symphony Orchestra and Malmö Symphony Orchestra, in 2002 with the Trondheim Symphony Orchestra.