The Michaelstein Chamber Choir

The Michaelstein Chamber Choir has specialized in vocal performance practice. The repertoire covers various musical styles and époques from the 11th century to contemporary music. The ensemble focuses on madrigals and motets of Renaissance, Early Baroque and Early Classic periods, as well as on sacred and secular music of the 20th century. The choir takes great care to apply appropriate rules of performance practice.

The musical and vocal training of the singers and a continuing longterm co-operation in a hardly changing amount of members are the basic elements of performing professionally and to work out demanding literature. Critics remark repeatingly the outstanding homogeneity of the choir sound and the varieties of interpretations which are results of the mentioned concept. In 1991 the choir was founded in the former monastery "Stiftung Kloster Michaelstein" - now a musical foundation. Since then the members, which come from all parts of Germany, meet regularly up to twenty weekends a year to rehearse there.

Besides its voluminous a cappella work the choir is closely connected to international acknowledged instrumental ensembles and personalities like Telemannisches Collegium Michaelstein, Collegium 1704 Prag, the conductor and harpsichordist Ludger Rémy or the conductor Christoph Spering. Numerous concerts of famous and unknown as well as rediscovered pieces of the Middle German Baroque Music (Bach, Telemann, Fasch, Stölzel, Rolle) are components of this successful co-operation. Highlights were e.g. world premiere of "Matthäuspassion 1730" by G. Ph. Telemann and "Passion basing on Brockestexts" by G. H. Stölzel.

Several recordings for radio and the internationally available record labels cpo and querstand document the work of this choir, among them "Christmas Oratorio and Cantatas" by G. Ph. Telemann, "Christmas Oratorio" by Johann Heinrich Rolle as well as the "Brockes Passion" by Gottfried Heinrich Stölzel. For one complete edition of organ works by Ludwig Krebs the choir produced two CDs with chorals, Magnificat and a motet together with the organist Felix Friedrich in 2000/2001.

The Michaelstein Chamber Choir has successfully taken part in a number of internationally acclaimed choir competitions. It received a "Golden Diploma" at the 5th International Choir Competition at Riva del Garda (Italy) in 1998, and won the First Prize for chamber choirs as well as a special prize for outstanding artistic achievements in the 1st International Johannes Brahms Choir Competition at Wernigerode (Germany) in 1999.

In October 2000 the choir went on its first concert tour abroad. Taking part in an exchange program, it gave numerous well received performances in the region of Murmansk (Russian Federation). In July 2002 the choir was guest of the 3rd International Festival of Sacred Music at Rottenburg /Neckar - Germany. This festival takes part every three years and 12 outstanding choirs from all over the world present their religious musical traditions there.Together with Collegium 1704 Prag and the conductor Ludger Remy the choir shaped the opening concert of the "Uckermärkische Musikwochen" in August 2002. The concert was broadcasted via Deutschland Radio Berlin and Radio France and six further channels of the EBU. Since 2002 the Michaelstein Chamber choir takes regularly part in projects with Chorus Musicus Köln (conductor: Christoph Spering), e.g. in November 2002 the "Verdi Requiem" was performed in the sold out Philharmony of Cologne and in June 2003 members of both ensembles went on a concert tour to Israel.

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