Inaugural Concert Bundesjugendchor
Anne Kohler, conductor
Brahms | Schumann | di Lasso
Harvey | Rihm | Hofmeyr | Denner (WP) | MacMillan
The Bundesjugendchor’s founding concert gives the young singers the opportunity to present a high level of stylistic diversity: the programme includes song cycles by Schumann and Brahms as well as works by the Renaissance composer Orlando di Lasso and numerous contemporary works.
Singing monks, France 14th century
Scheduled to take place last year, the premiere had to be postponed due to the pandemic. Singing had been transformed from one of the most beautiful to a dangerous form of human expression. Early last year, thanks to thorough planning, the German Music Council launched the Bundesjugendchor as a vocal counterpart to the Bundesjugendorchester and the Bundesjugendjazzorchester. Young vocal artists, selected at various auditions, are given the opportunity to prepare for a career as professional choristers. The choir meets in project-related sessions and develops programmes, which are then presented in concert. Anne Kohler, a committed, experienced choral conductor and professor, has taken on the musical and conceptual supervision. She teaches at the Detmold University of Music, where the practice of choral singing has always been given special attention.
For its first public performance, the choir has prepared a programme that highlights prominent facets of the immensely rich art of choral singing. Two demanding cycles for double choir, which develop their very own musical language based on the traditional motets (Johannes Brahms) and on the romantic songs for chorus (Robert Schumann), are followed by a discourse across the musical epochs: contemporary works counter motets by Orlando di Lasso. Together they explore the spirituality inherent in good choral singing.
Concert Programme
Alpha & Omega
Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897)
Fest- und Gedenksprüche op. 109 (1888)
for mixed choir a cappella
Robert Schumann (1810 – 1856)
Vier doppelchörige Gesänge op. 141 (1849)
for mixed choir a cappella
Orlando di Lasso (1532 – 1594)
Timor et Tremor (1564)
Motet for mixed choir
Jonathan Harvey (1939 – 2012)
Plainsongs for Peace and Light (2012)
for mixed choir or 16 solo voices
Orlando di Lasso
In hora ultima (1604)
Motet for mixed choir
Hendrik Hofmeyr (*1957)
In tempore belli (2016)
for mixed choir, soprano and alto solo
Wolfgang Rihm (*1952)
Mit geschlossenem Mund (1982)
for mixed choir
Orlando di Lasso
In religione homo vivit (1585)
Motet for mixed choir
Kathrin Denner (*1986)
New Work
Commission of Deutscher Musikrat, funded by Ernst von Siemens Musikstiftung.
World premiere
Orlando di Lasso
Homo cum in honore esset (1566)
Motet for mixed choir
James MacMillan (*1959)
Alpha & Omega (2011)
for mixed choir a cappella
Cast
Bundesjugendchor
Anne Kohler conductor