Gewandhaus Choir

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Gewandhaus Choir
Seat: Leipzig
Carrier: Gewandhaus in Leipzig
Founding: 1861
Head : Gregor Meyer
Voices : ( SATB )
Website : gewandhausorchester.de

The GewandhausChor is a semi-professional mixed-voice choir , which is maintained as a philharmonic choir of the Gewandhausorchester by the Leipzig Gewandhaus and is one of the leading choirs of its kind. He takes part in vocal symphonic concerts of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, performs with his own a cappella programs and gives concerts with other renowned ensembles. The Gewandhauschor is a member of the Association of German Concert Choirs .

Concert activity

Each season the choir performs around 15 to 20 different concerts, mostly in the Gewandhaus, but also at other venues such as the Völkerschlachtdenkmal or the Bildermuseum as well as outside of Leipzig. The dramaturgical design of the choir concerts is mostly embedded in a larger thematic or historical context.
The choir's repertoire is very varied and requires a high degree of vocal flexibility. It includes demanding a cappella music from the Renaissance to the present day, choral symphonic works, but also gospel, soul, pop and jazz. The choir regularly works with renowned ensembles such as the MDR-Rundfunkchor , the Dresden Chamber Choir , the Gewandhaus Children's Choir , the Mendelssohn Orchestra Leipzig, the Neues Bachisches Collegium Musicum and others. Across all genres, the choir organized concerts with well-known musicians such as Etta Cameron , Nils Landgren , the deep strings and the ensemble webe3 . Every season the choir organizes the Gewandhaus Day, the joint Christmas concert of the Gewandhaus choirs and the Great Concerts at the turn of the year with the 9th Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven and the Great Concerts . In addition to various CD, DVD and TV productions, the GewandhausChor is always present in the media; for example, the Battlefield of the Soul project with Bundeswehr soldiers received nationwide attention.

In the 2017/18 anniversary season, Gregor Meyer and Martin Kohlstedt present the first concert of the new Two Play to Play series . Other highlights include the world premiere of a work by Ēriks Ešenvalds and Igor Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms , conducted by Andris Nelsons .

history

The choir was founded in 1861 on the initiative of Gewandhauskapellmeister Carl Reinecke . Thus the Gewandhaus decreed for the first time its own choir from amateurs to professional Gewandhaus Orchestra after previously the Leipzig Singakademie , the Paulines singer club or the St. Thomas Boys Choir had been used in works with choir. In 1869 the choir premiered A German Requiem by Johannes Brahms . Under Karl Straube , the choir was merged with the Leipzig Bach Association in 1920 to form the Gewandhaus choir association (a few years later the choir was renamed the Gewandhauschor ), which resulted in a considerable increase in quality. The choir gave concerts under conductors such as Arthur Nikisch , Franz Konwitschny , Günther Ramin or Erhard Mauersberger as a mass amateur choir with 250 members at times in the tradition of Romanticism. In 1980 the later Thomas Cantor Georg Christoph Biller took over the management. In the period that followed, there were restructuring measures to improve quality; the concert choir with approx. 100 singers was created, which could be expanded by 50 singers to form the "large choir", as well as the smaller chamber choir and the youth choir, which was to serve as the youngsters' ensemble of the concert choir. However, this division could only be retained temporarily. After Biller stepped down in 1991, the choir sang under the Gewandhaus organist Michael Schönheit , and in 1992 the director of the Gewandhaus children's choir Ekkehard Schreiber became the director of the Gewandhaus choir. However, in 1997 Schreiber had to resign from the direction of the choir for health reasons. After an interim period in which, among others, Christian Fischer from the Leipzig University of Music and Gunter Berger , then director of the MDR Children's Choir, took over the direction, Morten Schuldt-Jensen was appointed choir director of the Gewandhaus in 1999 . This resulted in a significant restructuring and reorientation of the choir. After a general audition, just under a tenth of the over 100 members met the requirements. The choir was rebuilt on this basis. Schuldt-Jensen also founded the Gewandhaus Chamber Choir made up of professional singers, from which the Immortal Bach Ensemble later emerged.
The GewandhausChor has now reached a professional level, which Gregor Meyer , who has directed the choir since 2007, is continuing. Today the choir consists of approx. 65 amateur singers with previous training in choral music, e.g. B. Former members of the St. Thomas' Choir and Gewandhaus Children's Choir , music students and professional musicians.

rehearse

The GewandhausChor rehearses twice a week for 2.5 hours in the Gewandhaus as well as intensified before concerts. Every member is obliged to take singing lessons . The rehearsals are under the direction of Gregor Meyer. There is a cooperation with the "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" University of Music and Theater in Leipzig , within the framework of which students of choral conducting and church music take their exams with the choir.
Admission to the choir requires an entrance examination.

Guest performances

The GewandhausChor makes guest appearances in Germany and abroad as well as at festivals such as the Leipzig Bach Festival , the Wave-Gotik-Treffen , the Weimar Art Festival and the Stelzenfestspiele near Reuth . In 2012 the ensemble sang at the invitation of the Goethe Institute as the first German choir in Calcutta and Bangalore as part of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Germany and India and the 150th birthday of Rabindranath Tagore . In April 2012 the choir performed together with the Gewandhausorchester and the MDR radio choir Mendelssohn's symphony cantata 'Lobgesang' on the 85th birthday of Pope Benedict XVI. in the Vatican . The GewandhausChor performed with the Gewandhausorchester at the Lucerne Festival and the Proms in London in 2015 .

In October 2016, the choir accepted an invitation from the Goethe Institute in Vietnam and gave several concerts in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City .

Discography (selection)

Title / work medium Publishing year composer musical direction
Festive concert for the opening of the New Gewandhaus in Leipzig: Symphony No. 9 in D minor CD / record 1981 Ludwig van Beethoven Kurt Masur
St. Matthew Passion CD 1996 Johann Sebastian Bach Günter Neuhold
Large concert for the introduction of Riccardo Chailly into the office of Gewandhaus Kapellmeister / hymn of praise CD / DVD 2005 Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Riccardo Chailly
Elias CD 2005 Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Riccardo Chailly
S. Karg-Elert - The sacred choral work (world premiere recording) CD 2008 Sigfrid Karg-Elert Gregor Meyer
FELIX - Jugendwerke = Early Works CD 2008 Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Gregor Meyer
Rossini: Petite Messe Solennelle DVD 2010 Gioachino Rossini Riccardo Chailly
Beethoven - The Symphonies / Symphony No. 9 in D minor CD 2011 Ludwig van Beethoven Riccardo Chailly
150 years of the GewandhausChor Leipzig: Franz Liszt : Works for Choir and Organ (for the Liszt year 2011) CD 2011 Franz Liszt Gregor Meyer
Mahler 2 - International Mahler Festival Leipzig 2011 DVD 2011 Gustav Mahler Riccardo Chailly
Mahler 8 - International Mahler Festival Leipzig 2011 DVD 2011 Gustav Mahler Riccardo Chailly
The destruction of Jerusalem - Ferdinand Hiller on the occasion of his 200th birthday (world premiere recording) CD 2012 Ferdinand Hiller Gregor Meyer
Folksongs by Friedrich Silcher in a new guise, with L'art de passage CD 2012 Various Gregor Meyer
Jubilee Edition 2011: 150 years of the GewandhausChor. Franz Liszt: Works for Choir and Organ CD 2011 Franz Liszt Gregor Meyer
Max Reger: Complete chorale cantatas CD 2016 Max Reger Gregor Meyer / Frank-Steffen Elster
Niels Wilhelm Gade: Symphony No. 3 in A minor; Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Reformation Symphony CD 2017 Niels Wilhelm Gade , Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Gregor Meyer
Friedrich Schneider: The Last Judgment CD 2019 Friedrich Schneider Gregor Meyer
STREAMS CD 2019 Martin Kohlstedt / Gregor Meyer Gregor Meyer

Award

Varia

Web links

literature

  • Langner, Wolfgang: The Gewandhaus Choir in Leipzig. From the beginning until 2000. Sax-Verlag, Beucha 2005, ISBN 3-934544-72-X .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ tagesschau.de: Singing from the "battlefield of the soul". Leipzig choir sets Afghanistan reports to music. ( Memento from August 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive )