Artists biographies
Chorus Musicus Köln

Chorus Musicus Köln was formed by Christoph Spering in 1985 and as the chamber choir of the Mülheimer Kantorei, is known well beyond the borders of Cologne. Inspired and with a good musicological foundation, their performances justify their reputation. The repertoire extends from the Baroque to the 20th century, but one focus of their work is on lesser-known works of the Classical and Romantic periods, whose interpretation in the spirit of historically informed performance practice is gaining ever greater attention.

Critics stress the choir’s virtuosity, fresh dynamism, balanced beauty of sound, and purity of intonation. The choir have put the seal on their outstanding reputation with more than 20 CDs, many of which have won awards. Shortly after the choir’s formation they collaborated with Cologne’s Gürzenich-Orchester conducted by James Conlon and with Musica Antiqua Köln under Reinhard Goebel. These co-operations led to recordings of Zemlinsky’s choral works (EMI) and Handel’s Virgin Mary cantatas (DGG) respectively. Other guest conductors in the 1980s and 90s included Gerd Albrecht, Philippe Herreweghe and Avner Biron.

This young vocal ensemble, comprising music students, professional singers and a few qualified amateurs, has appeared at numerous festivals, including the Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, the Festival de Besançon, the Göttingen Händelfestspiele, the Dresden Musikfestspiele, the Beethovenfest Bonn, La Folle Journée in Nantes and the Bachfest Leipzig. The choir have been guests in venues including the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées Paris, the Palau de la Música de Barcelona and dthe Auditorio Nacional de Madrid, as well as the Philharmonie in Essen and the Tonhalle in Düsseldorf.

The Chorus Musicus Köln is getting an increasing number of invitations to co-operate with other ensembles, for example with the Orchestre National de Lille, the Israel Chamber Orchestra and the Israel Camerata, Jerusalem. At the Bachfest in Aschaffenburg in 2006 Chorus Musicus performed Mozart’s C minor Mass KV 427, newly completed by Robert Levin, and produced the work for Deutschlandradio.