Choirs

The following choirs performed in Vienna in November 2022:

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Chaplains, St. Thomas (D)

The Chaplains of St. Thomas Church were founded 20 years ago in Augsburg . The name "Chaplains" is both a reference to the choir's concern and its mission in the community as well as a reference to the rehearsal location of the "Chapel", which was once an American church in the garrison town of Augsburg. The choir considers itself a "multi-generational choir" in which everyone who enjoys singing is welcome. In 2018 it was able to perform the Misatango in front of an enthusiastic audience at Sankt Thomas.
In 2019 it invited members of the neighboring Heretsried-Emersacker choir community to join some of their members in the performance of Martín Palmeri's Misatango at Carnegie Hall in New York. After this great experience, the desire arose to repeat the performance together, which ultimately led them to Vienna.
For the rehearsals they were able to win over the choir director Sieglinde Kazemyieh of the choir community. Sieglinde has already performed the wonderful piece with her choir with great success in several churches in the "Holzwinkel".

Choeur Vivace (CH)

Founded in 1860, the Union Chorale de Lausanne later merged with Choeur de Dames de Lausanne. To bring the choir in to the 21^st century, it was renamed Choeur Vivace in 2001.
The choir focuses on the major choral repertoire such as Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Monteverdi’s Vespers, Handel’s Messiah, St John’s Passion by Bach and Brahms’s German Requiem.
More recently, since the COVID pandemic, the choir has performed Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. After 35 years, this was the last concert under the baton of Christophe Gesseney.
In the Autumn of 2021, under the new direction of Johanna Hernandez, the Choeur Vivace presented a concert of music by Pergolesi and Vivaldi. This year's autumn program included Bruckner's Mass in E minor.

Coro Callìope (CH)

Founded in 1923 as a church choir - flanked by the Evangelical Community of Locarno - and renamed Coro Misto in 1929, the association became Coro Callìope in 2012. Since 2002 the Callìope Choir has been led with passion by the teacher Esther Haarbeck.
Despite its origins linked to the evangelical community, with which it continues a constructive collaboration, Callìope is a lay choir today and open to everyone. The choir consists of up to 35 choristers.
The choir's musical repertoire includes works from the Baroque to the contemporary period, a cappella pieces as well as pieces with instrumental accompaniment. The Callìope choir cultivates collaborations and connections with different sounds and genres: from ancient to classical music, spanning from medieval to contemporary themes; with references to Gregorian chant, lesser known literature, jazz, pop and current sounds and styles. Ivo Antognini from Ticino, Martín Palmeri from Argentina and John Rutter from England are three of the most widely interpreted contemporary composers.
In recent years, the choir has performed together with numerous instrumental groups, including the Sinfonietta Anphiona orchestra conducted by Yvo Wettstein and the Ascona Big Band conducted by Paolo Cervetti. Among the recent programs are the Misatango - Misa in Buenos Aires, composed by M. Palmeri, the concerts in collaboration with the Civica Filarmonica di Bellinzona, directed by Franco Arrigoni and the 2019 advent concerts with the OCL - Chamber Orchestra of Locarnese, directed by Andreas Laake.
After the trip to New York in 2019 for an international project that saw them on the stage of the prestigious Carnegie Hall along with 200 other singers from all over the world with Misatango, the choir is looking forward to performing the piece in Vienna.

Ensemble Vocal de Neuchâtel (CH)

Founded in 1980 by Charles-Philippe Huguenin, the Ensemble Vocal de Neuchâtel has been directed by its talented choir director Steve Dunn since 2001. Currently made up of around thirty choristers, the choir has a repertoire spanning from the Renaissance to contemporary compositions. They perform either a cappella or with accompaniment by organ, piano or various instrumental formations, such as the Ensemble Symphonique Neuchâtel, the Geneva Chamber Orchestra, Histoires de Musique and Le Moment Baroque.
In this diversity, local composers are not forgotten; thus in 2011, the choir sang the chamber version of Wahnfried-Symphonie by Bertrand Roulet and in 2012, a composition by Steve Muriset, Magnificat, commissioned by the EVN.
It is also with great enthusiasm that the choir participates in significant international events; and consequently participated in April 2016 in a concert in New York’s Carnegie Hall to sing among seven other choirs, Misa a Buenos Aires, by Martin Palmeri, in honor of the 20^th anniversary of its creation.
The EVN is also pleased to join the other choirs directed by Steve Dunn - La Psallette and Le Chœur Norvégien de Genève - when it comes to singing works requiring a large number of singers. Thus in 2013, the public of Neuchâtel could hear L'EVN and La Psallette united interpreting Karl Jenkins’ Requiem during the Festi'Neuch and then in 2015 Te Deum by Anton Bruckner. In 2017, the two choirs met for a world premiere of a piece specifically written for them by composer Turgay Atamer: Requiem for Double Chœur.
Last November, the EVN once again joined forces with La Psallette and the Norwegian Choir of Geneva to sing another outstanding work by Karl Jenkins, The Armed Man: a Mass for Peace, accompanied by the Chamber Orchestra from Geneva.
In June 2018, the EVN performed Le Roi David by Arthur Honegger, accompanied by the instrumental ensemble Histoires de Musique, and in the spring of 2019, the Johannes-Passion by Georg Gebel d.J. with the Baroque Moment.
In September 2021, the EVN presented Joseph Haydn’s frequently performed “Creation” in a little-known transcription for string quintet and harpsichord by Anton Wranitzky, a Viennese contemporary of Haydn. In May 2022, the EVN along with the four other Geneva choirs directed by Steve Dunn took part in the concerts remembering the 200^th anniversary of the birth of César Franck, notably by singing airs taken from the Oratorio de Ruth, and accompanied by the Orchester d'Harmonie de l'Etat de Genève.

You can consult the EVN website, www.evneuchatel.ch to find out more about all the works sung by the EVN since its creation in 1980.

Ensemble Vocal Émergence (F)

The Ensemble Vocal Émergence has its beginnings in 2016 when Séverine Dervaux initially brought together a few friends who, like her, wanted to sing in a small choir. Today there are some 20-25 singers, all of whom have solid experience in singing choral music and sing assiduously in various ensembles in the southwest of France.
EVÉ is a chamber choir whose objective is to perform varied and original works. From their first concert in February 2017 with the Petite Messe Solennelle by Rossini, the public responded very favorably. A Brahms cycle followed in 2018 and 2019 with the Liebeslieder, Neue Liebeslieder and A German Requiem.
In February 2018, the choir began working on Latin American music, especially Martin Palmeri's Misatango, which they performed a second time in February 2020 featuring a show centering around the tango with dancers from the Tangueando ensemble near Pau. The event sold-out just a couple of days before the pandemic set in.
However, because of Covid, they were only able to give the first of three concerts of Maurice Duruflé's Requiem for organ and choir and other sacred pieces by French musicians of the 20^th century. Currently the choir is singing three concerts based on American composers of jazz music from the 30’s, 40’s and all the way to the 60’s as well as contemporary compositions by the likes of Morten Lauridsen and Samuel Barber. Choir master Séverine Dervaux is never lacking ideas and the ensemble’s next concerts will feature Baroque music after the Misatango Festival in Vienna this fall!

Gruppo Incontro (I)

Complesso vocale e strumentale Gruppo Incontro
Gruppo Incontro was founded in 1971 in Trieste, Italy by a group of young people sharing both friendship and a passion for music.
Over the 50 years of its existence the choir has carried out an intense programme of concerts in Italy, Austria, Germany, Belgium, Hungary, Serbia, Slovenia e Croatia. It was awarded First Prize with honours by the jury of the 25^th International Festival of Neerpelt in Belgium. The choir has made recordings for RAI, Radio Capodistria, Radio Ljubljana, Belgian and Dutch Radio Television. It has recorded six Cds of the most significant works of its repertoire spanning medieval to contemporary composers. For the noted label Tactus it recently recorded a CD entitled "Cantus Dei Gloriae - Novecento sacro a Trieste", (sacred music of the 20^th Century in Trieste) dedicated to the composers Giuseppe Radole, Marco Sofianopulo and Roberto Brisotto. Gruppo Incontro is directed by Rita Susovsky.

Ensemble Vocal Le Tourdion (F)

The vocal ensemble LE TOURDION was created in Dole in 1978 by the music teacher Louis Jacques. The choir consists of 40 singers and its program is mainly classical music.
Several choirmasters have successfully led the choir. Since 2012 the choir is directed by Florence GRANDCLEMENT, director of the Nord-Jura music school.
- From 1994 to 1998 the choir performed Johann Sebastian Bach's Magnificat, Haydn's Stabat Mater, Fauré's Requiem and Stravinsky's Wedding.
- From 1998, under the baton of a new conductor, Le Tourdion interpreted the Ninth Symphony by Beethoven, the German Requiem by Brahms, the Requiem by Mozart, the Requiem by Duruflé, the Passion according to Saint John by Bach and the Mass by Stravinsky.
- From 2007 to 2012: Le Tourdion performs works from Central Europe and Lieder by Brahms, Schubert, Mendelssohn, sacred and secular music from Latin America, Mozart's Coronation Mass. In 2010 revival of Requiem De Fauré.
- Since 2012 Florence GRANDCLEMENT has conducted: Gloria RV589 by Vivaldi, (2013) the motet BWV 227 Jesu Meine Freude by J.S. BACH (2014), Solemn Vespers for a Confessor by Mozart (2015). La Sunrise Mass by Ola Gjeilo (2016) La Misa a Buenos Aires by Martín Palmeri (2017), Magnificat by Arvo Pärt (2017) Stabat Mater by Karl Jenkins (2018), Requiem by Steve Dobrogosz (2019).
- In February 2018 Le Tourdion, with other choirs sang the Misa Tango at the Konzerthaus in Vienna and in June 2019 at Carnegie Hall in New York.
- Only the main works have been cited. Le Tourdion also organizes a Christmas concert every year. The choir is accompanied by professional or amateur musicians from the conservatories of Dole, Dijon Besançon and the Nord Jura music school. Le Tourdion also travels abroad: Sestri-Levante, Lahr, Yverdon, Prague.

Passionato (F)

The Choir PASSIONATO was founded in 2011 by Natalia Raykher. The choir is composed of around 30 choristers who have a passion for singing (4 voices). The choir gives several concerts every year and has participated in chorals festivals in Japan (Yokohama 2014), Italy (Firenze 2016) and Belgium (Antwerpen 2017).

The choir takes part in the International Assembly of Russian chorals since its creation 5 years ago. It performs eclectic pieces (classic, folk, contemporary music). The choir has performed major works such as Leo Delibes' Missa brevis, Gabriel Fauré's Requiem, Haydn's Missa brevis in B-flat, Mozart's Missa brevis in C Major, Dmitri Bortnyansky' Concerto for two choirs Te Deum; Francis Poulenc's Stabat Mater, Martín Palmeri's Missa Tango, Stabat Mater by Karl Jenkins.

The permanent artistic director and conductor is Natalia Raykher (Tikhonova). Natalia graduated from the Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow. She acquired her experience as a choir Master in Russia during 17 years.

She has been living in France since 2003 where she conducts several choirs of children and adults: the choir PASSIONATO at the Conservatory of Asnières sur Seine, the choir La Forlane in Paris, and « La Croche Choeur » at Franconville.

St. Martinschor Visp (CH)

The St. Martinschor Visp from Switzerland has a long tradition. Old writings in the parish and community show that there was already a church choir in 1892. The main goal of the St. Martinschor is to musically shape and beautify church services during the year and to sing solemn masses at Christmas and Easter.
Currently the choir has around 40 active members. It is led by the conductor and music director Johannes Diederen and the Russian-born assistant and organist Alina Nikitina.
The St. Martinschor has a versatile and rich repertoire. Traditionally on the annual programme there are orchestral masses by great composers at Christmas and Easter. The repertoire ranges from Bach, Mozart, Schubert, Liszt, Haydn to modern composers.
The choir frequently appears in public in concerts. In 2005 the oratorio "The Creation" by Josef Haydn, in 2008 the "Coronation Mass" by Franz Liszt and in 2012 the Cecilia Mass by Charles Gounod and the musical "Franz von Assisi" by Peter Jansens were performed.
A long tradition of operettas and musicals performances would be unthinkable without the choir. In the past 20 years, for example, the musicals "Show Boat", "Mask in Blue" and in 2020 "Zorro" have been successfully performed.
An unforgettable highlight of the choir was in 2014, on the occasion of the 800^th anniversary of the parish of Visp, the premiere of the musical "Martin", which was written by the composer Martin Völlinger especially for the choir.