Michael Kokott

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Michael Kokott 2017

Michael Kokott (born June 15, 1960 Duisburg ) is a German choir director , music school teacher and church musician . In addition to the well-known St. Stephan youth choir in Cologne , he leads a total of around ten choirs of all generations.

Life

Kokott is the second of three children in a Catholic family and spent his childhood in Cologne. Since the age of 10 he sang in the Cologne children's choir, with which he was a member in 1973 a. a. while recording the Sesame Street theme song , Der, die, das recorded. He initially learned to play the organ and piano by himself and only began taking music lessons at the age of 15 in order to prepare for an application at the music college.

He initially studied school music for nine semesters , but after the state examination he went on to study church music because, according to his own statements, conducting choir appealed to him more than teaching. During his first studies he had already directed a youth choir in Cologne-Sülz . He then gained experience in choirs in various parishes in Cologne.

He began his work as a cantor and organist in the parish of St. Stephan in Cologne-Lindenthal . Since 1985 he has directed the Sankt Stephan youth choir in Cologne , which with him and a mixed repertoire has developed into one of the largest and most successful youth choirs in Germany. The choir achieved its first success in 1987 with a performance on the occasion of John Paul II's visit to the “Papal Mass” in the Müngersdorfer Stadium . 1997 began a collaboration with the Bläck Fööss , which resulted in more than 100 joint performances at home and abroad and expanded the repertoire to include dialectic pieces. They were also involved in one of the most famous pieces of the band, the Kölsch family tree .

He has been working for the Rheinische Musikschule since 1998 , where he founded the Lucky Kids children's choir and the SPÄTlese senior choir. In addition, he leads a men's choir, the i-choir of the Rheinische Musikschule Köln for people with and without disabilities and, since 2016, the youth choir Grenzlos , in which u. a. Refugees sing along.

With his choirs he had numerous appearances on German television. With the St. Stephan Youth Choir in Cologne, he contributed to the musical design of World Youth Day 2005 . Since the premiere in 2015 at the Rheinenergiestadion in Cologne, he has been the musical director of Germany's largest sing-along event, “Loss mer Weihnachtsleeder singe” . Since 1998 he has given concerts with his choirs in the Lanxess Arena , Cologne Philharmonic , Cologne Opera and in the Musical Dome .

To the chart successes of Unheilig As You Warst (2012), Born to Live (2010) and Winter (2010), the chart hit Spinner (2010) by the Hamburg band Revolverheld , the chart hit Race + Stolpern (2013) by Band Jupiter Jones , the Cologne hymn love your city (2016) by Lukas Podolski and love wins (2017) by Brings , he contributed the choirs with his Cologne choirs.

Kokott is married and has three daughters.

Appearances

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Michael Kokott. Radio report on the person (59:21). In: domradio.de. domradio.de, May 19, 2015, accessed on May 28, 2017 .
  2. ↑ a b Michael Kokott leads what is probably Germany's most successful youth choir. In: nmz.de. January 24, 2009. Retrieved June 28, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Axel Hill: Head of the St. Stephan Youth Choir: I got the first organ from my grandpa. In: express.de. DuMont Media Group, June 13, 2010, accessed June 29, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Ulrike Süsser: Choir "Lucky Kids" A singer casting of the nice kind. In: Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger. June 29, 2011. Retrieved June 28, 2017 .
  5. ↑ EXPRESSO The Cologne Column: Two Voices ! The head of the youth choir is dad. In: Express . Cologne December 11, 2017, p. 25 .
personal data
SURNAME Kokott, Michael
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German choir director, music school teacher and church musician
DATE OF BIRTH June 15, 1960
PLACE OF BIRTH Duisburg