Choirboys Uetersen

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Choirboys Uetersen
Logo Chorknaben Uetersen 01 .jpg
Seat: Uetersen / Germany
Founding: 1965
Genus: Boys' choir
Founder: Ilse Rieth
Head : Hans-Joachim Lustig
Voices : SATB
Website : http://www.chorknaben-uetersen.de/

The Chorknaben Uetersen are a boys' choir founded in 1965 and organized as an association . Originating from a young church group, the choir developed into one of the choir directors Ilse Rieth (1965 to 1991), Kristian Commichau (1991 to 1995), Hans-Bernd Bockting (1995 to 1999) and Hans-Joachim Lustig (since 1999) most successful amateur choirs in the region .

structure

The choir currently consists of around 90 active singers from Uetersen and the surrounding communities. The ages range from six to nine years in the pre-choirs and from nine to 25 years old in the main choir.

Pre-choirs & carolers

To attract young talent, the vocal teacher Harald Stockfleth visits the first classes of the schools in the Uetersen area every year to discover potential talents. They will receive an invitation to a parents' evening at which the choir will be introduced.

The pre-choir period lasts three years. During this time, the young singers are taught fundamental musical skills such as reading notes, teaching rhythm and controlled breathing. From the second year they also receive voice training.

Since 2003 Susanne van den Bos has been the leader of the pre-choir groups. She studied school and church music at the Lübeck University of Music .

The pre-choir groups also give concerts on their own. You are also allowed to take part in the big Christmas concerts .

From the kurrender onwards , choir director Hans-Joachim Lustig takes over the rehearsals so that the aspiring singers can get used to it.

Concert choir

The concert choir currently consists of around 60 young boys and men from the fourth grade onwards. They regularly rehearse for 1½ hours twice a week. Alternately, vocal groups are separated (soprano, alto, male voices) and rehearsed with the full choir. Then the male voices practice for another half an hour. Weekend rehearsals are held monthly. Only the concert choir takes part in trips.

Sonux Ensemble

On the occasion of the CD “Light & Love”, released in 2013 by the Rondeau label , for which composers such as Eric Whitacre and Ola Gjeilo composed pieces exclusively, a new name was given for the male vocal choir. The name “Sonux Ensemble” was chosen on a grassroots basis . Sonux continues as a portmanteau of the words Sonus ( lat. "Sound") and Lux ( lat. "Light") together.

Big concerts

Christmas

Every year on the 4th weekend in Advent, the choirboys' Christmas concerts traditionally take place in the Uetersen monastery church . It is usually the only concert of the year in which the concert choir performs together with the pre-choirs. Guest artists are sometimes involved, performing as a soloist or with the choir. In 2013 a brass trio performed at the concert and in 2012 the pianist Tobias Forster of the Klazz Brothers arranged and improvised well-known Christmas carols. In 2010, Sky du Mont read a Christmas story in this context.

St. Matthew Passion in the Hamburg Michel

The boys' voices are allowed to take part in the performance of the St. Matthew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach in Hamburg's Michel on Palm Sunday every year .

More big concerts

to travel

Rehearsal runs

During the spring and autumn holidays, the choirboys go to rehearsals for a week. Regular destinations are Noer Castle in Schleswig-Holstein , the Silberborn youth camp in the Holzminden district in Lower Saxony and the Barmstedt youth education center . In addition to rehearsals, the week also consists of additional leisure activities.

Concert tours

A major international concert tour takes place around every two years. In doing so, contacts with other choirs are often made or maintained, and there are also return visits. Accommodation is often in host families, also for the purpose of getting to know the country and culture. The choirboys have already visited Russia, Italy, Hungary, Belgium, Poland, England, the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, Latvia, Estonia and the USA as well as other predominantly European countries.

Tour through Scandinavia in 2018

In 2018 the choirboys traveled through Denmark and Sweden to meet and sing with choirs such as the Stockholm Boys Choir , Linköping Boys Choir and Copenhagen Boys Choir . Concerts took place in Linköping , Stockholm and Uppsala .

Tour through Germany in 2016

The travel destination in 2016 were locations in Germany.

Istanbul Korofest September 2014

In September 2014 the male voices took part in the Korofest in Istanbul ( Turkey ) under their new name "Sonux Ensemble" .

Tour through the Baltic States in autumn 2013

During the autumn vacation 2013, the choir boys toured the Baltic States on a double-decker bus . They gave concerts in Tallinn , Estonia with the Tallinn Boys Choir and in Riga ( Latvia ) with the Riga Girls Choir, which paid a return visit in spring 2014.

USA trip 2011

During the 2011 summer vacation, only the male voices flew to concerts in New York City for a week , including at Trinity Church in Manhattan . The boys' voices then joined in Chicago . From here we took the bus along Lake Michigan , u. a. for the Summerfest in Milwaukee and for a concert at the Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp . The choir stayed in Chicago for another two days.

Previous trips

Tent camp

The tent camp in Lauenstein am Ith has historically important significance for the Uetersen choirboys. The choir emerged from the church youth group , which held a tent camp there every year during the summer holidays. But it has little to do with the general choir program. Singing is only done in the evenings around the campfire, without great artistic pretension, with guitar accompaniment. Terrain games are played in the forest, hikes are made and towers and caves are built. When the weather is good, the choir boys like to visit the nearby natural swimming pool in Lauenstein. They are catered for at lunchtime and in the evening from the Naturfreundehaus there .

Board

The association is lead by volunteer alumni or parents of the choirboys. In March 2019, Jonathan Remstedt was elected its chairman.

Support association

The Uetersen Choirboys are supported by around 220 members of the Association of Friends and Patrons of the Uetersen Choirboys eV This association was founded in 1973. In April 2012 Lutz Wesch was elected its chairman.

Awards

  • 2008: First prize at the 1st DCV International Choir Competition in Bremen in the Romance category (level A) and for the performance of a folk song (male voices)
  • 2007: "Best Male Choir Schleswig-Holstein" Choir Festival "Schleswig-Holstein sings" at Gut Salzau (male voices)
  • 2006: First prize at the NDR choir competition "The North Sings"
  • 2005: "Internationally very good" at the Marktoberdorf International Chamber Choir Competition (male voices)
  • 2002: First prize in the "Schleswig-Holstein sings" competition
  • 2002: "Best male choir in Germany" at the sixth German choir competition in Osnabrück (male voices)
  • 2000: Second prize in a ZDF children's choir competition

Discography

literature

  • Laura Silber: Choirboys. In: The Uetersen Lexicon. Schmidt & Klaunig, Kiel 2012, ISBN 978-3-88312-421-6 , pp. 25-28.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Chorknaben Uetersen - Vorchöre . Website of the Uetersen Choirboys. Description of the prechoirs. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
  2. ↑ Chorknaben Uetersen - About the choir . Website of the Uetersen Choirboys. Description of the choir. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Sonux Ensemble - About . Website of the Sonux Ensemble. Description of the ensemble. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
  4. ↑ Choirboys Uetersen - Friends' Association . Website of the Uetersen Choirboys. Description of the prechoirs. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
  5. ^ Uetersen choirboys - main choir . Website of the Uetersen Choirboys. Retrieved April 16, 2014.
  6. ↑ Studio Hamburg - press release . Studio Hamburg press release of June 6, 2006. Accessed April 17, 2014.