A choir is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words is the music performed by the ensemble. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which spans from the medieval era to the present, or popular music repertoire. Most choirs are led by a conductor, who leads the performances with arm, hand, and facial gestures.
The Music of Wales, particularly singing, is a significant part of Welsh national identity, and the country is traditionally referred to as "the land of song".
The Basel Boys Choir is a boys' choir based in Basel, Switzerland; it grew out of the boys' choir of the Protestant Church of Basel-City, founded by Hermann Ulbrich in 1927. Today the choir is non-denominational. They sing both sacred and secular works. The choir has been under the leadership of Oliver Rudin since 2017.
Limburger Domsingknaben is the name of the boys' choir at the Limburg Cathedral in Limburg, Hesse, Germany. The choir was founded in 1967 by the then bishop of Limburg, Wilhelm Kempf. Its conductors were Hans Bernhard, Mathias Breitschaft, Klaus Knubben and, since 2014, Andreas Bollendorf.
The Raleigh Boychoir is a 70-member choral group based in Raleigh, North Carolina, that trains elementary and high school-aged boys in singing and performing choral music in the tradition of "boychoir".
The Freiburg Cathedral Boys' Choir is one ensemble of the "Freiburg Cathedral Music" in southwest Germany, which has a history that can be traced back over eight centuries. It is directed by Boris Böhmann and composed of about 55 boys and 25 adult voices.
The Fairfield University Glee Club is a mixed chorus of about 60 undergraduate and graduate singers at Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut. The Glee Club has performed in churches, schools and recital and concert halls throughout Europe, singing from Galway to Rome and Florence to London. The choir has performed at Carnegie Hall, the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C., Westminster Cathedral in London, the Aula Paolo VI at the Vatican and the U.S. military academies at West Point and Annapolis.
The Harvard University Choir, more commonly referred to as the University Choir or simply UChoir, is Harvard University's oldest choir. It has provided choral music for the Harvard Memorial Church and its predecessor church for over 180 years, and is Harvard's only professional choir. Each year, a select group of choristers also make up the Harvard Choral Fellows, who sing at the church's daily Morning Prayers service in Appleton Chapel.
The Seattle Girls Choir (SGC) was established in 1982 by Dr. Jerome L. Wright as a "junior conservatory" where young women from throughout the Puget Sound region could gather after school to develop their music education.
The Copenhagen Royal Chapel Choir, located in Denmark, is recognized as one of Scandinavia's oldest choral institutions. Choristers of the choir undergo vocal training at the Copenhagen Municipal Choir School, including Sankt Anna Gymnasium and fulfill their choir duties at Copenhagen Cathedral.
The Czech Boys Choir from the town of Hradec Králové in East Bohemia, maintains the famous traditions of boychoir singing in the Czech territory as it began in the 13th century with the first boys’ choir at the St. Vitus Cathedral in Prague. Founding artistic director, Jakub Martinec, began singing as a child with the first boys’ choir established in the region by Jiri and Kveta Skopal in 1982.
Derby Choral Union is one of the UK’s longest standing choral societies having been formed in 1866. The choir was established to perform choral music of the highest quality, a tradition it strives to maintain to this day. The repertoire includes traditional choral works as well as music by 20th-century and more contemporary composers. Derby Choral Union is a registered charity and an independent choral society. It promotes concerts in Derby, England, and the surrounding district, and has over 100 active members.
Cantores Minores is a choir of the Helsinki Cathedral, and Finland's oldest and most successful boys' choir. The patron of the choir is the President of Finland. The choir consists of around three hundred 4- to 25-year-old boys and young men.
The Toronto Choral Society was founded in 1845. Music was a popular form of entertainment for a rapidly growing and prosperous population, so a group of citizens formed a choral society in order to give concerts and foster the development of the local musical community. F.W. Barron, the headmaster of Upper Canada College, became the choir's first president, and James P. Clarke, organist at St. James Cathedral, was its first conductor.
The Santa Cecilia Choir is a polyphonic male choir composed of seminarians of the Rachol Seminary of the Catholic Archdiocese of Goa and Daman in Goa, India.
Siegfried Strohbach was a German composer and conductor. He founded and directed choirs and the vocal ensemble Collegium Cantorum and is notable for the composition of choral music. He was a conductor of major theaters of Lower Saxony and a professor of the Musikhochschule Hannover as well as a composer.
The St. Ursus Cathedral or Solothurn Cathedral is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Basel in the city of Solothurn, Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.
MDR Rundfunkchor is the radio choir of the German broadcaster Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR), based in Leipzig, Saxony. Dating back to 1924, the choir became the radio choir of a predecessor of the MDR in 1946, then called Kammerchor des Senders Leipzig, or Rundfunkchor Leipzig. The present name was established in 1992. The choir has appeared internationally, and has made award-winning recordings.
Göttingen Boys' Choir, founded in 1962, is a mixed boys choir (SATB). The choir consists, including pre-choruses, of about 120 singers aged 6 to 21. As a non-confessional municipal choir, it has been directed since 2003 by music teacher Michael Krause.
Andreas Reize is a Swiss organist and conductor, with a focus on opera and choral conducting. He was appointed Thomaskantor on 11 September 2021, becoming the 18th director of music to take charge of the world famous Thomanerchor at Leipzig in succession to Johann Sebastian Bach.
