RIAS Kammerchor

RIAS Kammerchor
Origin Berlin, Germany
Founding 1948 (1948)
Genre Professional mixed chamber choir
Chief Conductor Hans-Christoph Rademann
Website www.rias-kammerchor.de

The RIAS Kammerchor is a professional chamber choir based in Berlin, Germany, and supported by the Rundfunk Orchester und Chöre GmbH Berlin ("Berlin Radio Orchestra and Choirs"), a limited-liability company owned by the public broadcasters Deutschlandradio (40%) and RBB (5%), the German Federal Republic (35%), and the State of Berlin (20%).

Originally known as the Rundfunkchor des RIAS, the choir was founded in 1948 by the US-run German-language radio station Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor ("Broadcasting in the American Sector") – hence its name, which it has retained even though RIAS itself was wound up in 1993, following German reunification.

Musical history

Although founded as principally the choir of a regional radio station, the RIAS Kammerchor quickly established for itself a national and international reputation. Among its founders' aims was the promotion of contemporary musical composition, and besides performing the standard repertoire, the choir has premiered many works by contemporary composers, including a number specifically dedicated to the RIAS Kammerchor.[1] The choir participated in the opening concert of the Berliner Philharmonie.[2]

Between 1947 and 1952 the choir recorded works by Bach with Karl Ristenpart, 68 cantatas, the Christmas Oratorio, and the St John Passion.[1]

The RIAS Kammerchor has collaborated with the Berlin Philharmonic and RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester (Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra) first with conductors such as Ferenc Fricsay, Karl Böhm, Herbert von Karajan and Lorin Maazel, later with Claudio Abbado, James Levine and Daniel Barenboim.[3]

The choir has premiered works by such contemporary composers as Paul Hindemith, Boris Blacher, Mauricio Kagel, Ernst Krenek, Pierre Boulez, Hans Werner Henze, and Aribert Reimann, several works were written for the RIAS Kammerchor.[3] It has also performed works by Arnold Schoenberg, Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Dieter Schnebel, Arvo Pärt, Tan Dun, and Erkki-Sven Tüür.[2]

Under the direction of Daniel Reuss the choir's repertoire was extended to include early and Baroque music, in collaboration with such conductors as Philippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Frans Brüggen, and John Eliot Gardiner.[3]

In 1991 the choir recorded Bach's Magnificat and the Lutheran Masses with the Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Peter Schreier.[1]

In 2010 the RIAS Kammerchor participated in the first recording of the orchestral versions of Pärt's Stabat mater for choir and string orchestra (1985/2008) and Cantique des degrés for choir and orchestra (1999/2002) with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, conducted by Kristjan Järvi.[4]

In 2010 the RIAS Kammerchor performed Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine, 400 years after its premiere, at the Rheingau Musik Festival in Eberbach Abbey, with María Cristina Kiehr, Gerlinde Sämann, James Elliott, Andreas Karasiak, Harry van der Kamp, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, conducted by Hans-Christoph Rademann.[5][6]

Chief conductors

References

  1. 1 2 3 "RIAS-Kammerchor (Chamber Choir)". bach-cantatas.com. 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-19.
  2. 1 2 3 "Chefdirigenten von Rundfunkchor Berlin und RIAS Kammerchor werden verlängert" (in German). Rundfunkchor Berlin. 17 March 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-23.
  3. 1 2 3 "RIAS Kammerchor". singers.com. 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-23.
  4. ↑ "Monteverdi: Marienvesper". MusicalAmerica Press Releases. 21 June 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-24.
  5. ↑ "Monteverdi: Marienvesper". Rheingau Musik Festival. 2010. Retrieved 2010-07-23.
  6. ↑ Michael Deilith (20 July 2010). "San Marco am Rhein" (in German). Frankfurter Neue Presse. Retrieved 2010-07-23.

External links

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