The Arnold Schoenberg Choir is a Viennese/Austrian choir which was founded 1972 by Erwin Ortner, who is still its artistic director. The choir has a high reputation both among conductors and among critics and the musical scene in general. All members of the choir have broad experience and expertise in vocal music; most of them have graduated from or are currently studying at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts. The choir is named after Viennese composer Arnold Schoenberg.
The cantatas composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, known as Bach cantatas, are a body of work consisting of over 200 surviving independent works, and at least several dozen that are considered lost. As far as known, Bach's earliest cantatas date from 1707, the year he moved to Mühlhausen, although he may have begun composing them at his previous post in Arnstadt. Most of Bach's church cantatas date from his first years as Thomaskantor and director of church music in Leipzig, a position which he took up in 1723.
Wer weiß, wie nahe mir mein Ende?, BWV 27, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Leipzig for the 16th Sunday after Trinity and first performed it on 6 October 1726.
Klaus Mertens is a German bass and bass-baritone singer who is known especially for his interpretation of the complete works of Johann Sebastian Bach for bass voice.
Kurt Huber is a Swiss tenor for concert and Lieder.
Münchener Bach-Chor is a mixed choir for concert and oratorio in Munich. Performances, international tours and recordings with Karl Richter and the Münchener Bach-Orchester made the choir internationally known.
The Münchener Bach-Orchester is a classical music ensemble based in Munich, Germany, which specialises in the performance of works by Johann Sebastian Bach. It was founded in 1954 by the conductor Karl Richter. It works closely with its partner vocal ensemble, the Münchener Bach-Chor.
Christa Bonhoff is a German contralto and mezzo-soprano singer.
Diethard Hellmann was a German Kantor, composer and academic teacher, first in Leipzig at the Friedenskirche and the Musikhochschule, then from 1955 in Mainz at the Christuskirche and the Peter Cornelius Conservatory, finally in Munich where he was president of the Musikhochschule München from 1981 to 1988. He was known for a weekly Bach cantata in Mainz, broadcast by SWR.
Howard Arman is an English choral conductor and opera director. He won the Handel Prize of the Handel Festival, Halle, in 1996, shaped the festival's orchestra and conducted operas of George Frideric Handel. He is a conductor of the Theater and Philharmonie Thüringen, also the Luzerner Theater. Since 2017 he is the Director of the Bayerische Rundfunk Chor.
Himmelskönig, sei willkommen, BWV 182, is a church cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach. He composed it in Weimar for Palm Sunday, and first performed it on 25 March 1714, which was also the feast of the Annunciation that year.
Ulrich Cordes is a German tenor, focused on concerts and sacred music.
Bachchor Stuttgart, also known variously as Stuttgart Bach Choir & Orchestra, Bach Orchestra Stuttgart, Stuttgarter Bach-Chor und Orchester, Bachchor und Bachorchester Stuttgart, Bachchor und Bach-Orchester Stuttgart, Stuttgart Bach Orchestra, Stuttgarter Chor und Orchester and L'ensemble vocal et instrumental de Stuttgart, is an orchestra and choir based in Stuttgart, Germany. Established around 1954, they are dedicated to the works of J. S. Bach. However, they also perform other works, for instance in July 2004 they performed at the Europäische Kirchenmusik Schwäbisch Gmünd festival of the City Church of Vienna, performing works of Adriana Hölszky.
Petra Morath-Pusinelli is a German organist.
The Berner Bach-Chor is a Swiss choir based in Bern. It is "a dynamic choir with one concert activity; a choir, openly for unusual, unknown and contemporary; a choir with international radiant emittance; an inspired community of approximately 120 singers; a choir, which was distinguished for its qualitatively high standing of work in 1997 with the culture prize of the Bürgergemeinde Bern."
The NDR Chor is the choir of the German broadcaster Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), based in Hamburg. It was founded in 1946, with Max Thurn as the first director of then 55 singers. The group has participated in premieres of contemporary music, such as the posthumous concert premiere of Schoenberg's opera Moses und Aron. It is also known for a capella music, introduced by Helmut Franz such as a recording of all such works by Johannes Brahms. The current artistic director is Philipp Ahmann, who has held the position from 2008. NDR Chor, now a group of 28 singers, is one of the leading professional chamber choirs in Germany.
Philipp Julius Wolfrum was a German conductor, musicologist, composer, organist and academic teacher. He was influential to university education in church music in Heidelberg, and in 1907 became the town's Generalmusikdirektor.
Ralf Otto is a German conductor, especially known as a choral conductor and academic teacher. He founded the Vokalensemble Frankfurt, focused on contemporary music and winning competitions including Let the Peoples Sing. Since 1986, he has been director of the Bachchor Mainz, with a tradition of performing Bach cantatas in broadcast church services. He added late romantic and contemporary works to their repertoire and made international tours with them. They made world premiere recordings of some cantatas by Bach's oldest son, Wilhelm Friedemann Bach, among other recordings. Otto was professor of choral conducting at the Folkwang Hochschule from 1990 to 2006, when he took the same position at the Hochschule für Musik Mainz.
Hanns-Friedrich Kunz is a German choral conductor.
The Bach-Chor Bonn is a large concert choir and oratorio choir in Bonn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It was founded by Gustav Classens in 1949 as Bonner Bach-Gemeinschaft, and has its present name officially since 2012. It has performed internationally, and recorded. Originally founded specifically to perform the works of its namesake Johann Sebastian Bach, the repertoire now contains major compositions of all periods including contemporary works. The choir has a long tradition of tours to European countries.