Leipzig vocal ensemble
The Leipziger Vocalensemble is a vocal ensemble that was founded in 1976 under the name Leipziger Vokalkreis by Georg Christoph Biller and other former Thomaners .
Artistic director of the Leipzig vocal ensemble:
- 1976–1998: Georg Christoph Biller ( Thomaskantor until January 2015 )
- 1998–2006: David Timm (today University Music Director in Leipzig)
- 2006–2011: Philipp Amelung (today University Music Director in Tübingen)
- 2012–2017: Ulrich Kaiser (today Cantor to Our Lady in Bremen)
- from 2018: Sebastian Reim
The Leipzig vocal ensemble has around 45 permanent members from different professions and with different musical backgrounds. The special concern of the choir is the performance of seldom heard - including contemporary - sacred choral music. Of course, the maintenance of Johann Sebastian Bach's choral works is also part of the extensive repertoire. The Leipzig vocal ensemble has been involved in the motet and cantatas program of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig for many years , so that the choir was able to perform a comprehensive number of Bach cantatas at the composer's place of work and continues to do so. Bach's cantatas, as well as his passions and the Christmas Oratorio, have been designed by the choir in longstanding artistic collaboration with the Leipzig Baroque Orchestra .
The Leipzig vocal ensemble has participated in several radio and television productions as well as in choral symphonic works in the Leipzig Gewandhaus together with the St. Thomas' Choir , the Gewandhaus Choir and the Gewandhaus Orchestra .
The choir can be heard on sound carriers, including a CD with choral works by the Leipzig composer Johannes Weyrauch and a recording of the Mark Passion by JS Bach.
Further concert highlights of the recent past were the performances of the first version (1727/29) of JS Bach's St. Matthew Passion (BWV 244b) and St. John Passion , as well as his motets (BWV 225-230). Classical choral works such as A German Requiem by Johannes Brahms or the contemporary Passion oratorio Deus Passus by the composer Wolfgang Rihm have been performed by the Leipzig vocal ensemble in the Thomaskirche in Leipzig. In 2010, the Leipzig vocal ensemble developed the German premiere of the Requiem by the Swedish composer Fredrik Sixten (* 1962) in Munich and Leipzig.
In recent years, the Leipzig vocal ensemble has been engaged at the Handel Festival , the Leipzig Bach Festival and the MDR Music Summer . In 2009 and 2010, the memorial concert on the anniversary of JS Bach's death was broadcast live from the Thomaskirche in Leipzig on 14 radio stations in various countries throughout Europe with the participation of the Leipzig vocal ensemble.