RIAS Kammerchor

The RIAS Kammerchor is a professional chamber choir of the RIAS in Berlin, founded originally for contemporary music, with an international reputation.

History

The RIAS Kammerchor, then named RIAS-Kammerchor, was founded in 1948 as a choir of the broadcasting station RIAS, mostly to serve contemporary music. Besides the standard repertory, many works of contemporary composers were premiered. Some composers dedicated their work to the RIAS Kammerchor.^[1] The choir participated in the opening concert of the Philharmonie Berlin.^[2]

Artistic directors

• 1948–1954: Herbert Froitzheim
• 1954–1972: Günther Arndt (de:Günther Arndt)
• 1972–1986: Uwe Gronostay (de:Uwe Gronostay)
• 1987–2003: Marcus Creed
• 2003–2006: Daniel Reuss
• since 2007: Hans-Christoph Rademann (contract until 2015)^[2] (de:Hans-Christoph Rademann)

Music

Between 1947 and 1952 the choir and the RIAS-Kammerorchester recorded works of 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 premiered works of contemporary composers such 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] They have also performed works of Arnold Schoenberg, Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Dieter Schnebel, Arvo Pärt, Tan Dun and Erkki-Sven Tüür.^[2]

With conductor Daniel Reuss the repertory was extended to of early and Baroque music, collaborating with conductors such as Philippe Herreweghe, René Jacobs, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Frans Brüggen and John Eliot Gardiner.^[3]

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

In 2010 the RIAS Kammerchor participated in the first recording of the orchestra 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]

References

External links

• RIAS Kammerchor website
• RIAS Kammerchor at Harmonia Mundi
• RIAS Kammerchor at Brandenburgische Sommerkonzerte (in German)
• Entries for the RIAS Kammerchor on WorldCat