Tölzer Boys Choir
| Tölzer Boys Choir | |
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| Seat: | Munich |
| Founding: | 1956 |
| Genus: | Boys' choir |
| Founder: | Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden |
| Head : | Christian Fliegner , Clemens Haudum |
| Voices : | 200 ( SATB ) |
| Website : | www.toelzerknabenchor.de |
The Tölzer Knabenchor is a boys' choir in Munich that is world-famous.
history
The Tölzer Boys Choir was founded in Bad Tölz in 1956 by the then 19-year-old high school graduate Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden . In the same year he was invited to radio concerts. 1957 followed the first concert tour to South Tyrol and Trento, 1960 a trip to Luxembourg, France, England and Belgium. From 1963 Carl Orff was a regular guest and conductor. He recorded his school work with the choir. From the 1960s the choir or soloists of the choir took part in opera performances. In 1964 singers of the choir took part in a performance of the Magic Flute for the first time .
The choir has been rehearsing in the state capital of Munich since 1971.
In 1973, Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden and his choir received the German Record Prize for his against the grain of the Christmas Oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach . In 1984 and 1986 he traveled to Chicago, China and Japan. Since then the choir has been known worldwide. In Japan the choirboys are called angels from Bavaria and are the subject of manga , among other things .
Since then, the choir has made concert tours around the world, including Japan , the People's Republic of China , Israel , Poland and the USA . He has sung at numerous festivals, including the Bayreuth Festival , the Berlin Festival , the Bregenz Festival , the Handel Festival in Halle (Saale) , the Heinrich Schütz Festival in Kassel , the Ludwigsburg Castle Festival , the Munich Opera Festival , the Salzburg Festival , the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival and the Schwetzinger Festival , Wiener Festwochen .
The choir sang at the opening ceremony of the 1972 Summer Olympics in the Olympiastadion Munich , directed by Carl Orff, at the traditional greeting of the youth , played by 3,500 Munich school children, which made an enormous impression all over the world. The choir also took part in the official opening ceremony for the 2006 soccer World Cup in Germany on June 9, 2006 in the Allianz Arena in Munich , directed by Christian Stückl . He also sang on the tarmac at Munich Airport to say goodbye to Pope Benedict XVI. of his visit to Germany in September 2006. He was delighted to thank all the boys and the artistic director personally.
The author Christopher Kloeble , who sang in the choir from 1988 to 1994, reported of mental abuse by the choirmaster Schmidt-Gaden at the time. Another choir boy confirmed the atmosphere of fear, humiliation and emotional violence up to and including slaps during this period.
From 2009 to 2014 Ralf Ludewig was the artistic director and managing director of the choir. In 2014 he was dismissed by Schmidt-Gaden during a tour of China due to serious differences of opinion on personnel management and artistic direction. Since September 2014 the singing teachers Christian Fliegner and Clemens Haudum have been the musical and artistic directors of the Tölzer Boys Choir. Both were long-time employees in the staff around Schmidt-Gaden, who in his role as artistic mentor continued to hold the strings in hand. As before, his wife Helga took care of economic affairs, while daughter Barbara Schmidt-Gaden joined as artistic and operational coordinator.
Since 2014 the choir has hosted a boys 'choir festival in Bad Tölz, at which internationally known choirs such as the Vienna Boys' Choir , the Augsburger Domsingknaben , the Zurich Boys 'Choir and the Wilten Boys' Choir perform. Choir manager Anselm Sibig, who started the festival, was dismissed in 2016 and replaced by Barbara Schmidt-Gaden .
Promotion of talent and training in the choir
The overall choir consists of around 200 boys who are trained in four individual choirs. Choir I, with the best and most experienced choir boys, is the concert choir. Choir II also appears in occasional public concerts. In it the boys are prepared for concert maturity and for choir I. The aptitude tests begin in the first grade at many schools in the Munich area. There is no boarding school affiliated with the choir. The children are encouraged individually in choir and solo lessons, thus awakening their enthusiasm and passion for music. A total of eight choir directors and vocal teachers look after the children. The training principle in the choir provides that every single child is able to sing as a soloist. For example, the choir is able to perform oratorios by Bach in a small cast.
repertoire
The choir or individual singers of the choir take part in almost 250 national and international concerts and opera performances every year, for example at the Salzburg Festival and the Munich Opera Festival.
The choir's repertoire includes vocal music from the Middle Ages to modern times , folk songs , madrigals and motets , church music from baroque to classical , solo roles and children's choirs for operas . The cast of the “Three Boys” in the Magic Flute in more than 2000 productions are legendary .
The soloists have been engaged on all opera and concert stages around the world for more than four decades. The soloists are also regular guests at major festivals. Many of the best conductors have worked with the soloists of the Tölzer Knabenchor, so u. a. Daniel Barenboim , Leonard Bernstein , Karl Böhm , Ivor Bolton , Herbert von Karajan , Mariss Jansons , James Levine , Zubin Mehta , Riccardo Muti , Sir Simon Rattle , Wolfgang Sawallisch , Sir Georg Solti and Marcello Viotti .
The opera stage and concert repertoire of the soloists of the Tölzer Knabenchor includes: a. Amore from Claudio Monteverdi's "Orfeo", "Il ritorno d´Ulisse" and "L´incoronazione di Poppea", the three boys from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's "The Magic Flute" and Apollo, Hyacinth, Melia, Zephyrus from "Apollo and Hyacinth", Waldvogel from Richard Wagner's “Siegfried” and Shepherd Boy from “Tannhäuser”, Yniold from Claude Debussy's “Pelleas und Melisande”, Amore from Christoph Willibald Gluck's “Orfeo ed Euridice”, Miles from Benjamin Britten's “Turn of the Screw”, 18 boy soloists from Jörg Widmann's “The Face in the Mirror”, Young Joseph from Hans Zender's “Chief Joseph”, as well as Leonard Bernstein “Chichester Psalms”, Gabriel Fauré “Requiem”, Gustav Mahler “Klagendes Lied”, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy “Elias”, 4 noble boys from Wagner's Tannhäuser
The choir has sung with numerous well-known orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic , Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra , Munich Philharmonic , Orchestra of the Bonn Beethoven Hall , Saxon State Orchestra Dresden and Vienna Philharmonic . Gerhard Schmidt-Gaden particularly fondly remembers the recording of Bach's cantatas and oratorios with Nikolaus Harnoncourt .
With its folk songs, the choir is also a guest on numerous television music programs.
Awards
- 1973 German Record Prize for: Johann Sebastian Bach, Christmas Oratorio
- 2003 ECHO -Klassik, Diapason d'or and Choc du Monde de la Musique for: Orlando di Lasso, David’s penitential psalms
- 2007 Diapason d'or for: Johann Sebastian Bach, St. John Passion (DVD)
Well-known former Tölz boys
- Die Bergkameraden , folk music group
- Gregor Bürger (* 1976), saxophonist
- John Friedmann (* 1971), actor
- Stefan Günther (* 1979), voice actor
- Max Felder (* 1988), voice actor
- Benjamin Grund (* 1980), pop singer (tenor), composer, producer
- Johannes Hauer (* 1984), actor
- Tobi Hofmann (* 1973), jazz musician, actor
- Markus Huber (* 1968), conductor
- Christopher Kloeble (* 1982), writer
- Christian Fliegner (* 1976), tenor, artistic director
- Barbara Schmidt-Gaden (* 1971), singer (mezzo-soprano), daughter of the choir founder
- Christian Immler (* 1971), singer (bass)
- Reinhold Hoffmann (* 1964), composer, Haindling member
Discography
The Tölzer Knabenchor has recorded numerous classical works, including compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach , Benjamin Britten , Joseph Haydn , Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy , Heinrich Schütz , Orlando di Lasso , Carl Orff , Gustav Mahler and Robert Schumann .
In the popular sector, the choir has recorded the following albums :
- The Tölzer Boys Choir sings its greatest successes
- Spring, summer, autumn and winter
- The Tölzer Boys Choir sings its most beautiful folk songs
- Songs of the Alps
- Hiking is the miller's delight
- Folk songs with Robert Stolz
- Folksongs with Hermann Prey
- Hoppe Hoppe Reiter - The most beautiful children's songs
- Old Bavarian Christmas
- Mountain Christmas
- Your little children are coming / Christ Child is coming soon
literature
- Helga Schmidt-Gaden: Tölzer Boys Choir. A life's work. 2006
Web links
- Official website
- Discography ( Memento from March 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
- Chronicle of the Tölzer Knabenchor - concert archive
Individual evidence
- ^ History. Tölzer Knabenchor, accessed on March 27, 2018 .
- ↑ Ulrich Trebbin: Memories of the Tölzer Knabenchor: "One tried not to cry" BR-Klassik from September 15, 2017
- ↑ Felicitas Amler: Tölzer Knabenchor: Ex-member speaks of "emotional terror" . In: sueddeutsche.de . August 29, 2017, ISSN 0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed on May 4, 2019]).
- ↑ During the China tour: founder of the Tölzer Knabenchor announces successor ( memento of November 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ). Bayerischer Rundfunk, accessed on September 4, 2014.
- ↑ Frank Schwarz: Double leadership should "secure life's work" BR-Klassik from October 13, 2015
- ↑ Merkur-Online website accessed on September 26, 2014
- ↑ Klaus Schieder: "We are an important brand for Bad Tölz" . In: sueddeutsche.de . February 12, 2015, ISSN 0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed May 5, 2019]).
- ↑ Christiane Mühlbauer: Knabenchor throws managers out , Münchner Merkur from May 20, 2016