Monteverdi Choir Hamburg

Monteverdi Choir Hamburg
Seat:	Hamburg / Germany
Founding:	1955
Genus:	mixed choir
Founder:	Jürgen Juergens
Head :	Antonius Adamske
Voices :	60 ( SATB )
Website :	http://www.monteverdi-chor.de/

The Monteverdi Choir Hamburg is one of the best-known German concert choirs, which, under its founder and long-time director Jürgen Jürgens, became internationally known for pioneering recordings and competition prizes. From 1994 to 2018 the Leipzig conductor Gothart Stier was the artistic director of the choir, which is now directed by Antonius Adamske .

history

The Monteverdi Choir Hamburg was founded in 1955 by Jürgen Jürgens as the “Choir at the Italian Cultural Institute”. In the same year it was renamed “Monteverdi Choir” at the suggestion of the director of the institute, at a time when Claudio Monteverdi was a largely unknown composer. Since 1961 the choir has been part of the Academic Music Department of the University of Hamburg , whose direction Jürgen Jürgens was the University Music Director from 1961 to 1993.

After four years of intensive development work, the Monteverdi Choir won a first prize for the first time in 1959 at the International Choir Competition in Arezzo (Italy). In 1962 another first prize followed at the international choir competition in Lille (France). After that, the choir began an unprecedented international career in amateur music.

In collaboration with Gustav Leonhardt , Nikolaus Harnoncourt , Frans Brüggen and Eduard Melkus , numerous pioneering recordings were made for the label Das Alte Werk der Teldec and the archive production of the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft , which won prizes and made the choir internationally known. Invitations to music festivals at home and abroad followed and took the choir to almost all countries in Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, the USA, Central and Latin America, South-East Asia, China and Australia.

After the sudden death of Jürgen Jürgens in August 1994, the Leipzig conductor and former concert singer Gothart Stier took over the artistic direction of the Monteverdi Choir. In October 2018 Antonius Adamske was elected as the new chief conductor.

repertoire

The choir's repertoire covers the entire range of choral music from the Renaissance to the present day. In his choir work, Gothart Stier continues the tradition of the Monteverdi choir, whose focus is a cappella work, and has expanded the spectrum of the choir in his sense. With his performances of great classical and romantic choral symphonies from Bach to Verdi in cooperation with the Philharmonic State Orchestra Halle , the Central German Chamber Orchestra , the New Bach Collegium Musicum Leipzig and members of the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig , some of which are documented on CD, he was able to and celebrate successes abroad.

Concert activities

The Monteverdi Choir has had a comparatively little presence in Hamburg in recent years. All the greater is the attention and recognition that the choir receives as Hamburg's cultural ambassador during its guest tours at home and abroad.

The highlights of the choir work with Gothart Stier so far have been:

• Guest tour to the Israel Festival Jerusalem in May 1996,
• Israeli premiere of Paulus von Mendelssohn as part of the Liturgica Festival Jerusalem and the Musica Sacra Festival Nazareth in January 1998,
• Performance of the Canti di Prigionia by Luigi Dallapiccola at the Handel Festival in Halle 1999,
• Concert tours to Central America in September 1999 and 2001,
• Performance of the Missa solemnis by Ludwig van Beethoven in the Thomaskirche 1999,
• Concert tour to the "Tuba Mirum" festival at the Hermitage (Saint Petersburg) in June 2001,
• Performance of Domenico Scarlatti's Stabat Mater as part of the Göttingen Handel Festival in 2002
• Opening of the Mendelssohn Festival in Leipzig with a performance of Elias in the St. Thomas Church on October 31, 2002 together with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra ,
• Concert tour to China in October 2003,
• Tour of Germany with Handel's Messiah in December 2003,
• Concert tour to the Baltic States in autumn 2004,
• Concert tour to the Israel Festival on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relations with Israel in May 2005,
• Three performances of Paulus von Mendelssohn in the Frauenkirche (Dresden) in March 2006,
• First performance of the Marien-Vespers by Claudio Monteverdi in February 2007 in the Thomaskirche ,
• Concert tour to the Shanghai Festival in March 2008,
• Concert with works by Bach , Mendelssohn and Reger as part of the Leipzig Bach Festival 2009,
• Three performances of the Marien-Vespers by Claudio Monteverdi in Berlin, Hamburg and Leipzig,
• Concert tour to the German Culture Days in St. Petersburg in November 2010
• Tour of Lithuania in October 2011.

CD recordings (selection)

• Holy Night - German Christmas carols and motets . Direction: Gothart Stier [2000], Ambitus 96 824.
• Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Paulus with Stephanie Stiller, Christa Bonhoff , Christoph Genz , Siegfried Lorenz , Philharmonic State Orchestra Halle , conductor: Gothart Stier [1998], Ambitus 97942.
• Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Elias with Stephanie Stiller, Annette Markert, Martin Petzold , Siegfried Lorenz, Philharmonic State Orchestra Halle , conductor: Gothart Stier [1996], Ambitus 97941.
• Max Reger : Orchestra songswith Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau , St. Michaelis Choir, Philharmonic State Orchestra Hamburg , conductor: Gerd Albrecht [1990], Orfeo 209901.
• Come, you shepherds - Christmas choral music by European peoples , conductor: Jürgen Jürgens [1990], Ambitus 97 856.
• Romantic choral music , conducted by Jürgen Jürgens [1988], Novalis 150032-2.
• Claudio Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine (Marien-Vesper 1610) with Barbara Schlick , Ine Kollecker, John Elwes, Wilfried Jochens, Holger Hampel, Christfried Biebrach, Gustav Hehring, Camerata Accademica Hamburg, direction: Jürgen Jürgens [1987], Ambitus 383826.
• Marco da Gagliano : La Dafne with Norma Lerer, Barbara Schlick, Ine Kollecker, Nigel Rogers , Ian Partridge, David Thomas , Berthold Possemeyer , Camerata Accademica Hamburg, direction: Jürgen Jürgens [1977], Deutsche Grammophon 437074-2.
• Claudio Monteverdi: L'Orfeo with Ian Partridge, Nigel Rogers , John Elwes, Camerata Accademia Hamburg, direction: Jürgen Jürgens [1974], Deutsche Grammophon 002894428723.
• Henry Purcell : Dido and Aeneas with Tatiana Troyanos, Barry McDaniel , Sheila Armstrong , Patricia Johnson, Margaret Baker, Margaret Lensky, Paul Esswood, Nigel Rogers, Kammerorchester des NDR , conducted by Charles Mackerras [1967], Teldec 8573-81141-2.
• Johann Sebastian Bach : Cantata No. 198 ( Let, Fürstin, let another ray - Trauerode), Cantata No. 158 ( Peace be with you ), Cantata No. 27 ( Who knows how near my end is? BWV 27 ) , with Rotraud Hansmann, Helen Watts , Kurt Equiluz , Max van Egmond , Concerto Amsterdam, conducted by Jürgen Jürgens [1967], Teldec 4509093687-2.
• Claudio Monteverdi: Vespro della Beata Vergine (Marien-Vesper 1610) with Rotraud Hansmann, Irmgard Jacobeit, Nigel Rogers , Bert van t'Hoff, Max van Egmond, Concentus Musicus Vienna , conductor: Jürgen Jürgens [1967], Teldec 4509-92175- 2.
• Georg Philipp Telemann : The day of judgment with Gertraud Landwehr-Herrmann, Cora Canne-Meijer, Kurt Equiluz, Max van Egmond, Concentus Musicus Vienna, direction: Nikolaus Harnoncourt [1966], Teldec 9031-77621-2.
• Johann Sebastian Bach: Cantata No. 206 ( Schleicht, Playing Waves ) with Irmgard Jacobeit, Wilhelmine Mattès, Tom Brand, Jacques Villisech, Amsterdamer Kammerorchester, conductor: André Rieu [1962], Teldec 8573-81141-2.

Honourings and prices

• Johannes Brahms Medal of the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg 1976

Record prices

• Grand Prix du Disque Paris: Monteverdi: Mary Vespers; Telemann: Judgment Day; Monteverdi: L'Orfeo; Scarlatti : Madrigals
• Grand Prix du Disque Bruxelles: Bach: Trauerode
• Prix ​​St. Cecile Belgique: Monteverdi: L'Orfeo
• English Record Critics' Award: Monteverdi: Marien-Vesper; Telemann: Judgment Day
• HIFI record of the year USA: Monteverdi: Marien-Vesper
• Sound and records USA - The years best recordings: Brahms : Sacred and secular choral music; Monteverdi: Marian Vespers; Italian contemporary choral music
• Disco la Plata Argentina: In dulci jubilo

Competition prizes

• Concorso Polifonico Internazionale “Guido d'Arezzo”, Arezzo (Italy)
  • 1958: 3rd prize folklore
  • 1959: 1st prize mixed choir
  • 1960: 2nd prize mixed choir
  • 1964: 2nd prize mixed choir & 2nd prize male choir
  • 1967: 2nd prize mixed choir
  • 1968: 2nd prize mixed choir & 2nd prize male choir
  • 1970: 3rd prize mixed choir
  • 1972: 2nd prize male choir & 2nd prize female choir
  • 1977: 1st prize mixed choir & 3rd prize folklore
  • 1983: 3rd prize male choir
• Béla Bartók Choir Competition, Debrecen (Hungary)
  • 1958: 2nd prize mixed choir
  • 1970: 3rd prize folklore
• Festival International de Chant Chorale, Lille (France)
  • 1959: 1st prize mixed choir
• International Choir Competition, Varna (Bulgaria)
  • 1977: 2nd prize chamber choir
• International Radio Choir Competition, Brno (CSSR)
  • 1971: 1st prize for the Sender Freies Berlin
• International radio competition Let the Peoples Sing
  • 1976: 1st prize for the Sender Free Berlin - Mixed Choir
  • 1982: 1st prize for the Sender Free Berlin - Great Choir
  • 1986: 1st Prize for Sender Free Berlin - Large Choir & 1st Prize - Male Choir

Web links

• Homepage of the Monteverdi Choir Hamburg
• Homepage of the academic music maintenance department of the University of Hamburg
• The Monteverdi Choir Hamburg on Facebook

Individual evidence

1. ^ Brahms Medal - The Prize Winners ( Memento of September 28, 2003 in the Internet Archive ) on: Aluan editorial staff