Berlin cappella

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Berlin cappella
Seat: Berlin / Germany
Founding: 1965
Genus: Mixed choir, concert choir
Founder: Peter Black
Head : Sergi Gili Solé
Voices : 70 ( SATB )
Website : www.berliner-cappella.de

The Berliner Cappella is a mixed, demanding amateur choir that has been a "fixed point in Berlin's musical life, a role model of openness for encounters and a sensitivity to time in the artistic" for more than five decades. During this time he has succeeded in developing "into a powerful concert choir that is independent of institutions". It is particularly important to him to present new and / or unknown compositions and to establish them in the concert life of the city. In addition to smaller and external appearances, the Berliner Cappella is represented three to four times a year on major Berlin stages such as the Konzerthaus and the Philharmonie and through the series “BERLINER CAPPELLA a cappella” in Berlin churches and other locations.

history

The organist and church musician Peter Schwarz (1937-2006) was introduced to his office as cantor at the Kaiser-Friedrich-Gedächtniskirche (KFG) on April 23, 1961 . With the choir there he brought mainly sacred music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Dietrich Buxtehude, Hugo Distler, Johannes Eccard, Philipp Heinrich Erlebach, Adam Gumpelzhaimer, Andreas Hammerschmidt, Paul Hindemith, Thomas Mancinus, Michael Praetorius, Max Reger, Heinrich Schütz, Leonhart Schröter and Johann Staden for the performance. On this basis of a mixture of traditional and contemporary Protestant church music, but also in order to broaden the musical horizons, the idea of ​​founding an own vocal ensemble developed - independently of the work of a choir, with the focus on old and new sacred music. This should also be able to perform larger works with orchestra accompaniment. It happened in November 1964. On December 13, 1964, the choir performed for the first time under the name Berliner Cappella in a service in the KFG. The first official concert also took place in the KFG on January 31, 1965 and "mainly served the goal of attracting more choir members to the Berliner Cappella." The program included sacred evening music on the theme of “Magnificat” with works by Orlando di Lasso, Henry Purcell, Samuel Scheidt and Heinrich Schütz. The KFG choir was incorporated into the Berliner Cappella, the number of members quickly increasing from 25 to 70 singers. That's roughly how many singers are still active in the Berlin Cappella today. (As of May 2018).

The first years of the Berliner Cappella were mainly characterized by participation in cantata services and by spiritual evening music in the KFG parish. From 1966 radio recordings were added in cooperation with the Sender Freies Berlin (SFB). Concert tours and collaborations regularly took the choir to Central and Eastern Europe in the early years. Since 1976 the Berliner Cappella has had an intensive and friendly collaboration with the Filharmonia Pomorska from Bydgoszcz (Bromberg) with mutual visits and concerts (the Berliner Cappella drove in 1976, 1977, 1982, 1984, 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1998, 2001, 2007, 2011 and 2014 to Poland). There were also concert tours to the CSSR (1969), to Belgium (1971), to Turkey (1978), to Italy (1982), to the Soviet Union (1984, 1989), to Hungary (1988), to the USA (1993, 2009) to Russia (2006) and Panama (2012) as well as several German cities.

A trip to the international choir festival “Lund Choral Festival” in Lund / Sweden is planned for October 2019, where Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's “Elias” will be played in collaboration with the local university choir.

Sacred music initially remained the focus of the program. Over the years, the choir has also increasingly devoted itself to experiments with modernity. In addition to the great choral works by Heinrich Schütz, Johann Sebastian Bach, Georg Friedrich Händel, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Johannes Brahms and Anton Bruckner, compositions by Karlheinz Stockhausen, Petr Eben, György Ligeti, Dieter Schnebel, Olivier Messiaen, Arnold Schönberg, Paul Hindemith, Benjamin Britten, Grete von Zieritz and many others. Lesser-known works, such as the cantata Die Geisterbraut by Antonín Dvořák , and modern pieces, for example by Paul Hindemith or Philip Glass , whose opera Akhnaten   (Akhnaton), which the choir performed in 2009 on the occasion of the reopening of the New Museum Berlin , are among the highlights as well as the concerts with a certain political and social reference, for example on “50 Years of the End of the War” (1995), the opening of the Holocaust Memorial (2001) or the 20th anniversary of German unity (2010). Furthermore, first and world premieres are part of the self-image of the choir and are regular important components of the programs.

In 2001 Gunter Berger initially took over  the direction of the choir. From 2002 to 2017 Kerstin Behnke was artistic director of the Berliner Cappella. She kept the choir in balance between continuity and development. So she put the seasonal programs under a unifying motto and suggested the composition prize of the Berliner Cappella. In addition to unknown works by well-known composers, she repeatedly focused on the works of women composers. After her departure, Maike Bühle , professor at the Berlin University of the Arts, took over the artistic direction of the choir in November 2017 . She was followed in December 2019 by Sergi Gili Solé, who will continue the profile of the choir, but will also set his own priorities. Sergi Gili Solé is supported by Johanna Knauth and Burkhard von Puttkamer, who lead the voice training of the choir.

In the course of its 50-year history, the Berliner Cappella has given concerts with conductors and artists such as Gerd Albrecht, Emre Araci; Nicos Athinaus; Kathrin Bethge; Frank Michael Beyer; Tomasz Bugaj; Riccardo Chailly; Viola Escher; Alun Francis; Joachim Geiger; Uwe Gronostay; Cristóbal Halffter [Dir]; Pedro Halffter Caro [Co-Dir.]; Hermann Max; Gerhardt Müller-Goldboom, Barbara Rucha; Tsuyoshi Sasakura; Ingo Schulz, Manfred Theilen, Igor Tjuwajew; Hideyuki Tsuji and Antoni Wit., Numerous vocal soloists, the major orchestras in Berlin and Brandenburg as well as with numerous renowned ensembles and choirs in Germany and abroad, in particular with the Berliner Cappella chamber orchestra founded by Peter Schwarz in 1984.

By the end of the 2017/2018 concert season, the Berliner Cappella had made a total of 628 appearances, including 312 in the KFG and 94 in the Philharmonie and in the Konzerthaus.

Since 2003, the Berliner Cappella has regularly held a composition competition in which the winner is invited to the world premiere of his work and receives prize money. The Berlin Chormusik-Verlag is now taking part in the competition and is relocating the award-winning work after the premiere by the Berlin Cappella.

A particular concern of the choir is the re-performance of works by unknown composers. As part of the concert series Famous Men - Strong Women, these are juxtaposed with the works of their male contemporaries.

The Berliner Cappella is a member of the Berlin Choir Association and is funded directly by the Berlin Senate's cultural administration through basic funding, most recently in May 2018.

The long-time choir director Kerstin Behnke describes what distinguishes the Berlin Cappella in the following words: “The openness to new things. Since the choir was founded by Peter Schwarz 50 years ago, the singers have loved the unusual, off the beaten track and experimental. This spirit of curiosity is still influential today. In addition to the traditional repertoire, we put many unknown works and world premieres on the programs ”.

In a survey of active singers in 2015, the most formative concerts were named: 1.) Philip Glass: Akhenaten; 2.) Johannes Brahms: A German Requiem; 3.) Sternstunde II (an appearance at the Großer Stern in connection with the 750th anniversary of Berlin); 4.) Erhan Sanri: Meeting of the Prophets; 5.) Johann Sebastian Bach: Mass in B minor

In addition to the joy of singing, the desired professionalism is given as an essential reason for the commitment in BC. That as an amateur singer you can “keep up” in such a large and demanding choir. The colorful selection of works with their different levels of difficulty. "In order to be fit for the concert evening and let everything sound exactly as the choir director, audience and last but not least the choir members themselves expect."

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Sybill Mahlke: New start. Kerstin Behnke makes her debut as conductor of the Berliner Cappella. Retrieved May 19, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Berliner Cappella eV: Sounding together. Festschrift for the 50th anniversary of the Berlin Cappella. Ed .: Berliner Cappella eV Berlin 2015.
  3. ^ Berliner Cappella eV: Family friend. Program for the concert of the Berliner Cappella on April 25, 2018 . Ed .: Berliner Cappella eV Berlin April 25, 2018.
  4. ↑ Profile. Retrieved May 19, 2018 .
  5. ↑ When the Berliner Cappella got its name .
  6. ↑ To the choir festival in Lund. Retrieved May 19, 2018 .
  7. ↑ a b story. Retrieved May 19, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Voice training. Retrieved May 19, 2018 .
  9. ^ Berlin choral music publishing house. Retrieved May 19, 2018 .
  10. ↑ List of choirs in the choir association. Retrieved May 18, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Frederik Hanssen: Senate supports Berlin choirs with one million euros. Der Tagesspiegel, accessed on May 18, 2018 .