Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble
The Balthasar Neumann Choir is a professional vocal ensemble made up of vocal soloists. The Balthasar Neumann Ensemble is a professional orchestra specializing in historical performance practice .
Career
In 1991 the conductor Thomas Hengelbrock founded the choir in Freiburg im Breisgau and named it after the baroque master builder Balthasar Neumann , whose architectural works were characterized by holistic planning of building, painting, sculpture and garden. Based on this way of thinking, the choir and ensemble strive for harmony between music and performance conditions. In a small cast and with the option of casting virtuoso roles with their own singers, the choir performs compositions such as Monteverdi's Marienvesper up to Bach's vocal works; in a larger cast it is dedicated to the music of the 19th to 21st centuries.
In 1995 Thomas Hengelbrock formed the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble. Following a historically informed performance practice, it makes music on the instruments appropriate to the time. The repertoire of both orchestras ranges from early baroque to modern.
The close and continuous collaboration between the Balthasar Neumann Choir and the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble of the same name results in concert programs and music theater productions under directors such as Achim Freyer , Philippe Arlaud and the founder Thomas Hengelbrock. With the discovery of forgotten works and new interpretations of well-known repertoires, Thomas Hengelbrock and his ensembles emerge internationally.
In addition to carnival music of the 17th century or the metamorphoses of melancholy, programs that trace the idea of baroque world theater, stage music such as Robert Schumann's Manfred or Edvard Grieg's Peer Gynt was interpreted in a new way in the context of Byron and Ibsen's dramas. The choir and ensemble worked closely with the actors Graham Valentine and Klaus Maria Brandauer . In cooperation with the director Achim Freyer, a staged performance of the B minor Mass by Johann Sebastian Bach was created for the Schwetzingen Festival and the Bonn Opera in 1996 . The solo parts are cast from the choir, who sings the work by heart. Resumptions with the Balthasar Neumann Ensemble have been successful since 2002.
From 1998 to 2005 Südwestrundfunk carried out its own concert series with the Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble under the motto Adventure Music . Less well-known works such as the Missa superba by Johann Kaspar Kerll or the Missa sapientiae by Antonio Lotti were presented to the public here. In this series, Antonio Lotti's Requiem in F major was performed again for the first time.
Both ensembles also presented themselves at the Opéra national de Paris in 2005 and 2008 . Playing together with the ensemble in the orchestra pit, the choir performed the opéra dansé Orpheus and Eurydice in the choreography by Pina Bausch (music: Christoph Willibald Gluck ).
The choir's own concert projects took place at the Expo 2000 with the Bremen Chamber Philharmonic or with programs such as the Romantic Choir Night 2007 in Lörrach.
In 2006, under Hengelbrock's direction, the ensemble opened the M22 project of the Salzburg Festival : on the occasion of WA Mozart's 250th birthday , various orchestras, choirs, conductors and soloists performed all of the composer's 22 scenic works during the festival. Under Hengelbrock's direction and musical direction, the orchestra and five soloists brought Mozart's early opera Il re pastore from 1775 to the stage.
Since its inception, the choir and ensemble have received numerous awards, including the Echo Klassik several times . In 2005 they received the Baden-Württemberg Culture Prize (main prize, shared with the Panoptikum action theater ). In 2010 the recording of choral works by Jan Dismas Zelenkas , Johann Sebastian Bach and Antonio Lottis received a Gramophone Award in the Baroque Vocal category .
Discography
CD:
- JS Bach: Mass in B minor , Balthasar Neumann Choir, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, conducted by Thomas Hengelbrock, dhm 05472 77380 2 (1997)
- Antonio Lotti: Requiem , Miserere , Credo , Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble, cond .: Thomas Hengelbrock, dhm 05472 77507 2 (1999)
- Festa teatrale - Carnival in Venice & Florence , masquerades, ballets and carnival scenes by Monteverdi, Vecchi etc. a., Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble, cond .: Thomas Hengelbrock, dhm 05472 77520 2 (2000)
- JS Bach: Psalm 51 / F. Durante and A. Scarlatti: Concerti , Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble, Maya Boog, soprano, Michael Chance, alto, cond .: Thomas Hengelbrock, dhm 05472 77508 2 (2000)
- Music for San Marco in Venice , Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble, cond .: Thomas Hengelbrock, dhm 05472 77531 2 (2001)
- J. Haydn: The Creation , Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble, Simone Kermes, Gabriel / Dorothee Mields, Eva / Steve Davislim, Uriel / Johannes Mannov, Raphael; Locky Chung, Adam / Head: Thomas Hengelbrock, dhm 05472 77537 2 (2002)
- A. Lotti: Missa Sapietiae / JS Bach: Magnificat BWV 243a, Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble, conductor: Thomas Hengelbrock, dhm 05472775342 (2003)
- F. Durante: Magnificat in B flat major, E. d'Astorga: Stabat mater , GPPergolesi: Confitebor tibi Domine , Balthasar Neumann Choir, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, cond .: Thomas Hengelbrock, dhm 05472 77369 2 (2004)
- DIXIT : GF Handel, Dixit Dominus / A. Caldara, Missa Dolorosa & Crucifixus, Balthasar Neumann Choir and Soloists, Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, director: Thomas Hengelbrock, dhm 82876 58792 2 (2004)
- From the music library of Johann Sebastian Bach Vol. II , works by Pachelbel, JC Kerll and JS Bach, Balthasar Neumann Choir and Soloists, Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, conducted by: Thomas Hengelbrock, hänssler classic (2005)
- From the music library of Johann Sebastian Bach Vol. I , works by T. Albinoni, FB Conti, PA Locatelli, G.Fr.Händel and JS Bach, Sibylla Rubens, soprano, Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble, cond .: Thomas Hengelbrock, hänssler classic (2005)
- Love of life and the art of dying , motets and cantatas by Bach and Purcell, Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble, conducted by: Thomas Hengelbrock, dhm (2007)
- JD Zelenka: Miserere in C minor, JS Bach: Cantata weeping, lamenting, worrying, anxiety, A. Lotti: Missa a tre cori , Balthasar Neumann Choir, Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, conducted by: Thomas Hengelbrock, dhm 88697526842 ( 2009)
- Nachtwache , a cappella works by J. Brahms, F. Mendelssohn Bartholdy, R. Schumann, C. Schumann, M. Reger a. a .; Poems by C. v. Brentano, J. v. Eichendorff, H. Heine, E. Mörike and Novalis; Balthasar Neumann Choir, Johanna Wokalek, recitation, conducted by: Thomas Hengelbrock, dhm 88691999372 (2012)
DVD:
- WA Mozart: Il re pastore , soloists, Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, stage and costumes: Mirella Weingarten, direction and musical direction: Thomas Hengelbrock, Deutsche Grammophon, DVD-Video 073 422-5 (Salzburg Festival 2006)
- Chr. W. Gluck: Orpheus and Eurydike , Opéra dansé by Pina Bausch, soloists, Les Étoiles, les Premiers Danseurs et le Corps de Ballet de l'Opéra National de Paris, Balthasar Neumann Choir, Balthasar Neumann Ensemble, choreography and direction: Pina Bausch, musical director Thomas Hengelbrock, BelAir (Palais Garnier Paris 2009)
swell
- B. Gantenberg et al. (Office for International Cultural Projects): Balthasar Neumann Choir. Internet http://www.kulturprojekte.com/bios/bnc/ , January 9, 2008.