Concert Choir of Darmstadt

In the more than 25 years of its existence the concert choir of Darmstadt, conducted by Wolfgang Seeliger, has found great recognition within and outside the country. Thus the choir has already visited most of the important European concert halls and was invited for tours to the United States, Israel, the Korean Republic and Japan. In April 2006 the choir took part very successfully in the “Spring Festival” Pyongyang, following an invitation of the North Korean Government being the cultural ambassador for Germany and Western Europe in this festival. The concert choir of Darmstadt cooperated with conductors like Vladimir Ashkenazy, Gary Bertini and Adam Fischer and achieved many prizes at national and international competitions. In addition to the great concert activity there are various radio and television appearances as well as disc recordings.

The most important principle of the work and style of the concert choir of Darmstadt is to strive for a vivid interpretation of the music being performed. During the intensive preparation stages of a production, establishing a common understanding of the expressive content of the music is always foremost. The repertoire reaches from religious and secular music of the Middle Ages to the frequent premières and first performances of contemporary works (Jean Françaix, Mauricio Kagel, Wolfgang Rhim), including operas and oratorios as well as a cappella pieces. For many years the choir provides the opera chorus in the summer opera festival of Heidelberg. Ten years ago the concert choir started a cycle of Georg Friedrich Handel’s oratorios performing them every year in Christmas time.

In the programmes of the choir - mainly designed according to thematic points of view - the standard works of choral literature appear as well as unusual and rarely performed music. The development of completely new forms of stage presentation of concert works is an important part of its efforts. The scenic staging of the performances of the Carmina Burana, Handel’s Belsazar and Honneger’s Roi David attracted great attention.

In 2001 the concert choir of Darmstadt originated the Darmstadt’s residence festival. This big summer music and theatre festival shows many different artistic activities, such as classical concerts, popular music, theatre performances, ballets and musicals on historical places in the city of Darmstadt.