Chamber choir Ars Antiqua Aschaffenburg
The Ars Antiqua chamber choir is a mixed choir with currently around 40 singers from Aschaffenburg . Contrary to what the name suggests, the choir does not deal with early music. The repertoire includes all musical epochs from the baroque to contemporary choral music. The elaboration and performance of concert programs on specific music history topics characterize the concert activities of the choir, which is also a registered association. By participating in choir competitions at home and abroad, the Ars Antiqua chamber choir has also attracted national attention. The Ars Antiqua chamber choir is the winner of the City of Aschaffenburg Culture Prize 2012.
| Chamber choir Ars Antiqua Aschaffenburg | |
|---|---|
| Seat: | Aschaffenburg , Germany |
| Founding: | 1982 |
| Genus: | mixed choir |
| Founder: | Burkard Schmitt |
| Head : | Stefan Claas |
| Voices : | 40 ( SATB ) |
| Website : | arsantiqua.de |
history
The Ars Antiqua chamber choir was founded in 1982 as a youth choir with the aim of developing and performing challenging choral literature from all epochs under professional guidance.
The choir has been under the musical direction of Stefan Claas since 1999. With regular concerts and performances, the ensemble, which today consists of around 40 singers, is an integral part of cultural life in the Bavarian Lower Main. The focus of the choir's work is on thematically elaborated a cappella concerts. Four of these thematically sophisticated concert programs have already been produced on CD, one of them in cooperation with Bavarian Broadcasting. For the 25th anniversary of the choir, two CDs were created in 2007. The live recording of Bach's St. John Passion and the CD Favorites - the choir's favorite songs.
In addition to its own programs, the choir is involved in major municipal concert events. The highlights of the city's cultural life include the choir's performances at the gala concerts of the Aschaffenburg Culture Days in the courtyard of Johannisburg Palace. As part of these nationally acclaimed concerts, Ars Antiqua took on the choral part of works such as Carmina burana and Die Schöpf, or operas such as Carmen, Zauberflöte, Zar and Zimmermann etc. This also includes the appearance at the 81st Bach Festival 2006 of the New Bach Society in Aschaffenburg the Bach motets.
The performance of the amateur ensemble is confirmed by high national and international awards. These include winning the Bavarian Choir Competition in 2005 and 2009; also the second prize and the special prize for contemporary choral music at the German Choir Competition 2006. Furthermore, the third prize and the audience award at the International Choir Competition in Spittal an der Drau (Austria) in 2011. Today the ensemble can count itself among the best amateur choirs in Germany.
Concerts and projects
The focus of the chamber choir's concert activities is the city of Aschaffenburg and the Mainviereck area. In addition to his regular concert activity, Ars Antiqua participates in larger concert projects or productions in the Aschaffenburg area, e.g. B. the opera gala in the castle courtyard (as part of the Aschaffenburg Culture Days) or the Aschaffenburg Bach Days.
For some years now, Ars Antiqua has been in contact with other choirs in Germany (including Via-nova-chor Munich and Carmina Mundi from Aachen) and Scotland (chansons in Perth). The fruits of these relationships are joint concerts and concert tours.
The focus of the choir's work is on the development of demanding a cappella programs, each with a thematic concept to which the selection of pieces is subordinate. For example, in the Fascination Psalms (2003) program, psalm settings by a wide variety of composers from the Renaissance to the 20th century were selected. Open your mouth in concert ! (2005) the end of the Second World War 60 years ago was commemorated with plays that dealt with violence, anger, grief and reconciliation.
The choir, together with orchestras, also dedicates itself to great works in music history. It all started with concert operas ( Carmen , Die Zauberflöte , Orpheus and Eurydice, among others) in the context of the opera galas in the Aschaffenburg palace courtyard between 2001 and 2005 . Committed to historical performance practice, the choir engaged the Main Barockorchester Frankfurt and soloists for a performance of the St. John Passion in 2007. The most recent collaboration with the via-nova-chor in Munich made it possible to bring Bruckner's seldom heard Mass in E minor to the stage in two concerts in Aschaffenburg and Munich.
With the cover group MerQury, a Queen Classical performance was created in 2010 and 2011 .
Cooperations
- Mass in E minor by Bruckner with the Via nova choir Munich 2011.
- Joint concert in Aachen and Aschaffenburg with Carmina Mundi 2008.
- Concert tours to Aschaffenburg's twin town Perth (Scotland) in 2007, 2010 and 2016.
- Christmas concerts with the Aschaffenburg Pompejanum Lions Club from 2004 to 2016.
- Concert opera performances as part of the palace gala.
Children's choir Ars Antiqua
Since 2008 there has been a cooperation with the Grünewaldschule Aschaffenburg and the music school in Großostheim in the course of the singing classes. There the primary school students receive musical support with singing lessons and choir singing. If the children are interested and suitable, they will be accepted into the children's choir Ars Antiqua even after they have finished primary school. There is now also a youth choir. In total there are now more than 60 children (compared to the founding year when there were around 15 children), some of whom can later go to the chamber choir. This would complete the Aschaffenburg Singakademie's system for promoting young talent.
CD productions
Ars Antiqua can look back on an impressive collection of recordings, some of which were made with Bayerischer Rundfunk .
- Love's Tempest 2001
- Contains a two-part program of secular classical choral music from the Romantic period and North American gospels / spirituals. The first part contains works by Brahms, Elgar and Cornelius, while the second part features arrangements and compositions by Polay, Barnby, Shaw and others.
- Fascination Psalms 2003
- Psalm settings by various composers. The world premiere and recording of a work by the Brazilian composer Garcia deserves special mention.
- Favorites 2007
- On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the choir, a concert program was selected jointly by the choir singers. This collection of music from all epochs and styles was recorded on CD in addition to performances in concerts.
- St. John Passion (Bach) 2007
- In contrast to the other a cappella work of the choir, an orchestral work was created for the 25th anniversary of its existence. Johann Sebastian Bach's St. John Passion was performed and recorded with the Main Baroque Orchestra and soloists.
- The thorns bore roses in 2011
- Traditional and modern choral music for Advent and Christmas, partly together with the children's choir Ars Antiqua
- A cuckoo on a tree ... 2014
- Folk songs in classic and modern style, partly together with the children's choir Ars Antiqua; produced by Bayerischer Rundfunk
successes
- 2005: First prize in the Bavarian Choir Competition
- 2006: Second prize in the German choir competition and special prize for contemporary music
- 2009: First prize in the Bavarian Choir Competition
- 2011: Third place in the art song category and audience award at the international choir competition in Spittal an der Drau
- 2012: Awarding of the culture prize of the city of Aschaffenburg for enriching Aschaffenburg's cultural life with high quality choral music and for promoting young talent
Individual evidence
- ^ Website of the choir
- ↑ Aschaffenburg event calendar
- ↑ Information on your page of the choir ( Memento of the original from December 8, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Website of the German Music Council ( Memento of the original from September 3, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Website of the Bavarian Music Council
- ↑ Website of the organizing Singkreis Porcia ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Press release from the city of Aschaffenburg
