Choir - Vita (English Version)
The Munich Philharmonic Choir is a partner of the Munich Philharmonic
Orchestra and one of Germany's leading large-scale choral ensembles.
The Choir's repertoire spans all genres of choral music, from early
polyphony to contemporary, and includes both well-known and lesser
known works, challenging compositions from every age, and concert
versions of the operas of a range of composers from Mozart, Verdi,
Puccini, Wagner and Strauss to the likes of Schoenberg's 'Moses and
Aaron' and Henze's 'Bassariden.' The Choir is as keen to promote this
repertoire as it does the great oratorios and major choral works of
Bach, Handel, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann,
Brahms, Bruckner, Reger, Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Penderecki.
Amongst successes in the sphere of early music, the Choir has given a
highly-acclaimed performance of Bach's St John Passion under Frans
Brüggen and in May 2008 it was invited to sing, under the direction of
Hartmut Haenchen, the B Minor Mass at the Dresden Music Festival in
the famous Dresden Cathedral.
Performing new music is equally important to the Choir, which,
together with the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, gave the world
premiere of Peter Michael Hamel's 2nd Symphony as part of the 11th
Munich Contemporary Music Festival in 2008. The choir also regularly
collaborates with living composers; in November 2008 it presented an
a-cappella programme of works by Krzysztof Penderecki, a concert which
also included his large Choral Symphony No.7 'Seven Gates of Jerusalem
', performed on the occasion of the composer's 75th birthday before an
enthusiastic audience in the Munich Philharmonie Concert Hall, which
was filled to capacity for the occasion.
The Choir is also much in demand for their interpretations of opera
choruses, and has developed, with conductor James Levine, a reputation
for giving outstanding concert performances of works such as Mozart's
'Idomeneo' , Verdi's 'Otello', Wagner's 'Parsifal', and Schoenberg's
'Moses and Aaron'. Collaborations with the Bavarian Radio Orchestra
have included five performances of Verdi's 'Aida' in Munich's Olympic
Hall and the SAP Arena in Mannheim, and, more recently in 2007 with
the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra under Christian Thielemann, the
Choir performed some of Verdi's greatest opera choruses. The choir can
also be heard singing excerpts from Richard Wagner's 'Meistersinger'
on the Deutsche Gramophone label, and in 2009 it will perform, at the
Regentenbau in Bad Kissingen, with the Philharmonie Festiva conducted
by Gerd Schaller, a concert version of the opera 'Merlin' by Carl
Goldmark (1830-1935), which will be recorded live for CD by Bavarian
Radio.
Whilst most often100 voices strong, the Choir is equally at home, when
required, as a smaller or larger ensemble, according to the programme,
particularly where world premieres are concerned.
The men's voices of the Munich Philharmonic Choir are frequently
engaged to perform in operas and oratorios such as Berlioz's 'La
Damnation de Faust' and Stravinsky's 'Oedipus Rex' but have also
embraced such challenging repertoire as Symphony No.13 'Babi Yar' by
Shostakovich and the great symphonic poem 'Kullervo' by Jean Sibelius,
performed in June 2007 under the direction of Jukka-Pekka Saraste. In
2009 the gentlemen of the choir will sing 'Star Child' by George Crumb
in the Munich Philharmonie Concert Hall under the baton of Dennis
Russell Davies.
Recently, the women of the Choir were heard in a performance of 'Trois
Petites Liturgies', a composition written by Olivier Messiaen for 36
voices, which inspired outstanding reviews in the Sueddeutschezeitung
and the Abendzeitung newspapers, praising the level of perfection
achieved by the singers, particularly in the pianissimi of the first
Liturgy. Marc Albrecht, who was the conductor on this occasion,
returned to Munich to work with the same forces in early January 2008
when they performed Debussy's Nocturnes .
Over the years the Choir has enjoyed working with many eminent
composers and conductors such as Gustav Mahler, Hans Pfitzner,
Krzysztof Penderecki, Rudolf Kempe, Herbert von Karajan, Sergui
Celibidache, Seiji Ozawa, Simone Young, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel,
Mariss Jansons, James Levine and the present Musical Director of the
Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, Christian Thielemann.
In its 110 year history, the Choir has maintained its high standards
by being directed by experts in the field of choral music, such as
Rudold Lamy, Dr. Hans-Rudolf Zöbeley, Josef Schmidhuber, Prof. Joshard
Daus, Michael Glass, the Dresden Kreuz-Kantor Professor Roderich
Kreile and Andreas Herrmann, who has been Artistic Director of the
Munich Philharmonic Choir since 1996.
The Choir is defined by its association with the Munich Philharmonic
Orchestra and therefore flourishes in a wide range of musical genres,
in particular responding to the increasing demand for 'great choral
music'. As a consequence, regular collaboration with the academy
students of the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra has resulted in the
annual performance of a variety of demanding works, in the
Alleheiligenhofkirche at the Munich Residenz; in April 2009 there will
be a joint concert of instrumental music given by the students of the
Orchestra's academy and items of unacccompanied music by Carl Orff
sung by the Choir.
The Munich Philharmonic Choir is in great demand to perform at many
different venues and festivals in Germany, and further afield in
Europe and beyond, such as the recent concert tour to Egypt where they
presented a programme of Carl Orff's 'Trionfo di Afrodite' and
'Carmina Burana' in the opera houses of Alexandria and Cairo.
