The Philharmonischer Chor München (Munich Philharmonic Choir), is a choir founded in 1895 by Franz Kaim in the German city of Munich. [1] Conducted since 1996 by Andreas Herrmann, its repertoire spans a range from the Baroque to operas in concert and large choral works of the 20th century, including major works and also many less known works of sacred and secular concert literature. The choir collaborates with the orchestra Münchner Philharmoniker, and has been conducted by prominent conductors such as Gustav Mahler, Hans Pfitzner, Krzysztof Penderecki, Rudolf Kempe, Herbert von Karajan, Sergiu Celibidache, Carlo Maria Giulini, Seiji Ozawa, Zubin Mehta, Lorin Maazel, Mariss Jansons, James Levine. and Christian Thielemann.
Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, the second most populous German federal state. With a population of around 1.5 million, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Hamburg, as well as the 12th-largest city in the European Union. The city's metropolitan region is home to 6 million people. Straddling the banks of the River Isar north of the Bavarian Alps, it is the seat of the Bavarian administrative region of Upper Bavaria, while being the most densely populated municipality in Germany. Munich is the second-largest city in the Bavarian dialect area, after the Austrian capital of Vienna.
Gustav Mahler was an Austro-Bohemian late-Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th century Austro-German tradition and the modernism of the early 20th century. While in his lifetime his status as a conductor was established beyond question, his own music gained wide popularity only after periods of relative neglect which included a ban on its performance in much of Europe during the Nazi era. After 1945 his compositions were rediscovered by a new generation of listeners; Mahler then became one of the most frequently performed and recorded of all composers, a position he has sustained into the 21st century. In 2016, a BBC Music Magazine survey of 151 conductors ranked three of his symphonies in the top ten symphonies of all time.
Hans Erich Pfitzner was a German composer and self-described anti-modernist. His best known work is the post-Romantic opera Palestrina, loosely based on the life of the sixteenth-century composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.
Karl Richter was a German conductor, choirmaster, organist and harpsichordist.
Wilhelm Killmayer was a German composer of classical music, a conductor and an academic teacher of composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München from 1973 to 1992. He composed symphonies and song cycles on poems by Friedrich Hölderlin, Joseph von Eichendorff, Georg Trakl and Peter Härtling, among others.
Georg Enoch Robert Prosper Philipp Franz Karl Theodor Maria Heinrich Johannes Luitpold Hartmann Gundeloh Freiherr von und zu Guttenberg was a German conductor. He also owned the large winery estate Weingut Reichsrat von Buhl. He founded musical ensembles for performances of sacred choral works, and the Herrenchiemsee Festival. In 1975, he co-founded the BUND, a German organization dedicated to protecting the natural environment.
Rudolf Kelber is a German organist, harpsichordist, conductor and church musician.
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.
Gerlinde Sämann is a German soprano known for her performances in concerts and operas. She is particularly associated with the works of Johann Sebastian Bach. Her concert repertoire also includes lieder, oratorio, early music, and contemporary music.
Gabriel Dessauer is a German cantor, concert organist and academic. He has been responsible for the church music at St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden from 1981, conducting the Chor von St. Bonifatius until 2018. He is an internationally known organ recitalist and was an organ teacher on the faculty of the Hochschule für Musik Mainz. In 1985, he founded the German-English project choir Reger-Chor. He has lectured at international conferences, especially about the music of Max Reger, who was a member of the parish St. Bonifatius.
Max Beckschäfer is a German organist, composer and academic.
Diethard Hellmann was a German Kantor and an academic in Leipzig, Mainz and Munich.
Fritz Lehmann was a noted German conductor, whose career was cut short by his early death at the age of 51. His repertoire ranged from the Baroque through to contemporary works, in both the concert hall and the opera house. He was an early advocate of period performance practice. and founded the Berliner Motettenchor. He is best known through a number of recordings he left.
Jörg Duda is a German composer of classical music.
Edgar Krapp is a German organist and music professor. Krapp is a member of the Board of the Neue Bachgesellschaft in Leipzig and the Bavarian Academy of Fine Arts.
Roderich Kreile is a Lutheran church musician, choir director and university teacher. Since 1997, he has been the director of the Dresdner Kreuzchor at the Kreuzkirche, Dresden, as the 28th Kreuzkantor since the Reformation.
Franz Lehrndorfer was a German organist, composer, and pedagogue.
The Chor von St. Bonifatius is a German mixed choir, the church choir of the parish St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden. It was founded in 1862 as a male choir and was a mixed choir from 1887. From 1981 to 2018, it was conducted by Gabriel Dessauer, who founded two children's choirs. The group sang the first performance in Germany of John Rutter's Mass of the Children and performed in Azkoitia, San Sebastián, Görlitz, Bruges, Macon and Rome. Colin Mawby composed for the choir the Missa solemnis Bonifatius-Messe for the 150th anniversary, celebrated on 3 October 2012. From 2019, the choir has been conducted by Roman Twardy.
Kurt Suttner is a German music teacher and choir director. He is the founder of the Via Nova Choir, with which he was awarded at numerous international competitions.
Lior Shambadal is an Israeli composer and conductor.
Michael Ostrzyga is a German Composer and Conductor based in Cologne. He is known for his choral music in particular, being commissioned by festivals like the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival and performers like The Chamber Choir of Asia, the Finnish YL Male Voice Choir, the Vienna Chamber Choir, Latvian Youth Choir "Kamēr..." and Chamber Choir Consono, among others. His works are performed by ensembles like the Raschèr Saxophone Quartet, New Dublin Voices, the Australian Chamber Choir, Rheinisches Klavierduo, Swedish choirs Kammarkören Pro Musica and Allmänna Sången Neues Rheinisches Kammerorchester, The Choral Project (California) and SFA A Cappella Choir (Texas).
Antonia Fahberg was an Austrian lyric soprano in opera and concert. Her career focused on the Bavarian State Opera where she sang for 25 years. She performed regularly in concerts and recordings with Karl Richter and the Münchener Bach-Chor, and appeared at major opera houses and festivals in Europe.
MünchenKlang is a Munich ensemble comprising a choir and an orchestra. The name is a compound of its city of origin (München) and the German word for sound (Klang).