The Oldenburg Chamber Choir was formed in 1986 by its current director Johannes von Hoff, and has developed into one of Germany’s leading chamber choirs. The choir’s outstanding musical and interpretative Numerous concerts and international tours have borne witness to the choir’s outstanding work, as have performances on radio and CD.
The choir has enjoyed success at a number of national and international competitions. As well as first prizes at regional (Lower Saxony) and national competitions in Germany, the choir has also won prizes at international competions in Riva del Garda (1992, 2011), Budapest (1993), Marktoberdorf (1999), Cork (2003), Tolosa (2007) and Maasmechelen (2013).
Tours to Denmark, Spain, Canada, Ecuador and Poland have further strengthened the choir’s reputation.
In December 2017 the Oldenburg Chamber Choir was invited to a concert in the Eglise Notre-Dame du Sablon in Brussels by the Representation of the Government of Lower Saxony in the EU.
As well as demanding sacred and profane a-cappella literature, the choir performs a significant amount of modern music, and has premiered a number compositions, such as a cycle of songs by Heinrich Poos und works by the polish composers Jakub Neske and Katarzyna Danel.
The oratorios of Bach, Händel and Telemann are also part of the choir’s repertoire, as are the Requiems of Mozart, Verdi and Brahms. Performances of such works are given in cooperation with renowned soloists and professional orchestras.
The Oldenburg Chamber Choir consists of around 35 singers, who meet once a week for rehearsal. Johannes von Hoff explains the importance of the rehearsals for the singers: „every rehearsal is significant, especially the intensive rehearsals before the concerts, which produces the essence of what holds the choir together: the music in its greater context. Subsequently in the concerts, it isn’t just a question of intonation, enunciation and giving form to a piece; it’s about bringing the audience under the spell of the music.“
The Singers:
Soprano:
Annette Belling, Lina Blum, Bettina Heno, Christiane Herrmann, Katharina Heuwagen, Marietta Jobmann, Gisela Kanngießer-Krebs, Imke Kasten, Annette Pritschow, Ute Röller, Jennifer Spormann
Alto:
Birgit Adlung, Katja Bergström, Elisabeth Fabarius, Gabriele Hoeltzenbein, Christiane Kaiser, Dorothee Kramer, Bettina Lindt, Larissa Schween, Birgit Stangneth
Tenor:
Andreas Burau, Ralf Kleffner, Marco Pritschow, Oliver Retz, Albert Sill, Winfried Strybny, Tammo Wilken, Otto Willich
Bass:
Thomas Bogon, Reinhard Dick, Simon Doclo, Dietrich Hein, Friedemann Michalek, Niklas Schreiber, Jens Sturm, Simon Weihe
