Frankfurter Kantorei (Frankfurt chorale) is a German mixed concert choir established in July 1945 by Kurt Thomas in

Frankfurt Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...

. In 1969, Helmuth Rilling assumed leadership, and the choir began recording the complete

Bach cantatas This is a sortable list of Bach cantatas, the cantatas composed by Johann Sebastian Bach. His almost 200 extant cantatas are among his important vocal compositions. Many are known to be lost. Bach composed both church cantatas, most of them for ...

in 1972. From 1982 to 1997,

Wolfgang Schäfer Wolfgang Schäfer (born 7 April 1945) is a German choral conductor and academic. He founded the Freiburger Vokalensemble, the BosArt Trio, and the Frankfurter Kammerchor. Career Born in Staufen im Breisgau, Schäfer studied music education, vo ...

was artistic director of the Frankfurter Kantorei. Since then it has been led by

Winfried Toll Winfried Toll (born 1955) is a German conductor, singer, composer and academic teacher. Career Born in Dorsten, Toll first studied theologie and philosophy at University of Münster and the University of Freiburg. He then studied composition, ...

. The choir has performed concert tours abroad in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

and

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

, among others, and first appeared in Israel in 1979. The group has made numerous CD recordings on the EMI Classics label. In 2000 they were a recipient of the Binding Kulturpreis, and in May 2000, they performed Brecht/Weill's ''

Three Penny Opera ''The Threepenny Opera'' ( ) is a "play with music" by Bertolt Brecht, adapted from a translation by Elisabeth Hauptmann of John Gay's 18th-century English ballad opera, ''The Beggar's Opera'', and four ballads by François Villon, with music ...

'' at the Musiktriennale Köln of

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

. The choir has a membership of about 70. In 1995, the ladies of the choir performed in a live recording of Zemlisky's opera ''

Der Zwerg ''Der Zwerg'' (''The Dwarf''), Op. 17, is an opera in one act by Austrian composer Alexander von Zemlinsky to a libretto by Georg C. Klaren, freely adapted from the short story "The Birthday of the Infanta" by Oscar Wilde. Composition history ...

'' (The Dwarf), with the Gürzenich-Orchester, conducted by

James Conlon James Conlon (born March 18, 1950) is an American conductor. He is currently the music director of Los Angeles Opera, principal conductor of the RAI National Symphony Orchestra, and artistic advisor to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Early ...

. In 2007, the Kantorei took part in an audio play Doktor Faustus – Das Leben des deutschen Tonsetzers Adrian Leverkühn erzählt von einem Freunde with music by

Hermann Kretzschmar August Ferdinand Hermann Kretzschmar (19 January 1848 – 10 May 1924) was a German musicologist and writer, and is considered a founder of hermeneutics in musical interpretation and study. Life and career Born in Olbernhau, Saxony, Kretz ...

. On 3 April 2009, the choir performed in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( he, תֵּל־אָבִיב-יָפוֹ, translit=Tēl-ʾĀvīv-Yāfō ; ar, تَلّ أَبِيب – يَافَا, translit=Tall ʾAbīb-Yāfā, links=no), often referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the G ...

in a concert commemorating the hundredth anniversary of the foundation of the city in a Mann Auditorium. The program contained Mozart's ''

Requiem A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...

'' and Mendelssohn's ''

Die erste Walpurgisnacht ''Die erste Walpurgisnacht'' (''The First Walpurgis Night'') is a poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, telling of the attempts of Druids in the Harz mountains to practice their pagan rituals in the face of new and dominating Christian forces. It wa ...

'', with the

Israel Chamber Orchestra Israel Chamber Orchestra (abbreviation ICO, Hebrewהתזמורת הקאמרית הישראלית (''Hatizmoret hakamerit'') is an Israeli orchestra based in Tel Aviv. Primary funding comes from the Israel Ministry of Education and the Tel Aviv-Yafo ...

Recording

The choir performed recordings of

with Thomas and Rilling. Conducted by Wolfgang Schäfer, they recorded

Joseph Rheinberger Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (17 March 1839 – 25 November 1901) was a Liechtensteiner organist and composer, residing in Bavaria for most of his life. Life Josef Gabriel Rheinberger, whose father was the treasurer for Aloys II, Prince of Liecht ...

's ''Missae et Cantiones'', a Mass and sacred pieces.

References

External links

* *
Official site

* Christian Rupp

(in German) FAZ 4 April 2020 {{Authority control German choirs Bach choirs Musical groups established in 1945 1945 establishments in Germany