The RIAS Kammerchor (RIAS Chamber Choir) is a German
choir
A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...
based in
Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...
, Germany. It receives support from the Rundfunk Orchester und Chöre GmbH Berlin ("Berlin Radio Orchestra and Choirs"), a limited-liability company owned by the public broadcasters
Deutschlandradio
Deutschlandradio (DLR) (''Radio Germany'') is a national German public radio broadcaster.
History
''Deutschlandfunk'' was originally a West German news radio targeting listeners within West Germany as well as in neighbouring countries, ''Deutsc ...
German Federal Republic
BRD (german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland ; English: FRG/Federal Republic of Germany) is an unofficial abbreviation for the Federal Republic of Germany, informally known in English as West Germany until 1990, and just Germany since reunification. It ...
(35%), and the
State of Berlin
Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constituen ...
(20%).
History
Founded in 1948, the choir was originally known as the ''Rundfunkchor des RIAS'', after the US-run German-language radio station
Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor
RIAS (german: Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor; en, ''Radio in the American Sector'') was a radio and television station in the American Sector of Berlin during the Cold War. It was founded by the US occupational authorities after World War I ...
("Broadcasting in the American Sector"), or RIAS. Early in its history, between 1948 and 1952, the choir recorded works by
Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...
cantata
A cantata (; ; literally "sung", past participle feminine singular of the Italian verb ''cantare'', "to sing") is a vocal composition with an instrumental accompaniment, typically in several movements, often involving a choir.
The meaning of ...
s, the ''
Christmas Oratorio
The ''Christmas Oratorio'' (German: ''Weihnachtsoratorium''), , is an oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach intended for performance in church during the Christmas season. It is in six parts, each part a cantata intended for performance on one of t ...
'', and the ''
St John Passion
The ''Passio secundum Joannem'' or ''St John Passion'' (german: Johannes-Passion, link=no), BWV 245, is a Passion or oratorio by Johann Sebastian Bach, the older of the surviving Passions by Bach. It was written during his first year as direc ...
''. The choir first performed on 15 October 1948, and its first chief conductor was Herbert Froitzheim. Whilst founded as a regional radio station choir, the RIAS Kammerchor quickly established for itself a national and international reputation. Among its founders' aims was the promotion of contemporary musical composition, and besides performing the standard repertoire, the choir has premiered many works by contemporary composers, including a number specifically dedicated to the RIAS Kammerchor. The choir participated in the opening concert of the
Berliner Philharmonie
The Berliner Philharmonie () is a concert hall in Berlin, Germany, and home to the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra.
The Philharmonie lies on the south edge of the city's Tiergarten and just west of the former Berlin Wall. The Philharmonie is on ...
. The choir has premiered works by such contemporary composers as
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith (; 16 November 189528 December 1963) was a German composer, music theorist, teacher, violist and conductor. He founded the Amar Quartet in 1921, touring extensively in Europe. As a composer, he became a major advocate of the ''Ne ...
,
Boris Blacher
Boris Blacher (30 January 1975) was a German composer and librettist.
Life
Blacher was born when his parents (of German-Estonian and Russian backgrounds) were living within a Russian-speaking community in the Manchurian town of Niuzhuang () (he ...
,
Mauricio Kagel
Mauricio Raúl Kagel (; 24 December 1931 – 18 September 2008) was an Argentine-German composer.
Biography
Kagel was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, into an Ashkenazi Jewish family that had fled from Russia in the 1920s . He studied music, his ...
,
Ernst Krenek
Ernst Heinrich Krenek (, 23 August 1900 – 22 December 1991) was an Austrian, later American, composer of Czech origin. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including ''Music Here and Now'' (1939), a study ...
,
Pierre Boulez
Pierre Louis Joseph Boulez (; 26 March 1925 – 5 January 2016) was a French composer, conductor and writer, and the founder of several musical institutions. He was one of the dominant figures of post-war Western classical music.
Born in Mont ...
,
Hans Werner Henze
Hans Werner Henze (1 July 1926 – 27 October 2012) was a German composer. His large oeuvre of works is extremely varied in style, having been influenced by serialism, atonality, Stravinsky, Italian music, Arabic music and jazz, as well as t ...
, and
Aribert Reimann
Aribert Reimann (born 4 March 1936) is a German composer, pianist and accompanist, known especially for his literary operas. His version of Shakespeare's ''King Lear'', the opera ''Lear (opera), Lear'', was written at the suggestion of Dietrich F ...
, works written for the RIAS Kammerchor.
During the tenure of
Daniel Reuss
Daniel Reuss (born 2 July 1961, in Leiden)Biography at allmusic.com. is a Philippe Herreweghe
Philippe Maria François Herreweghe, Knight Herreweghe (born 2 May 1947) is a Belgian conductor and choirmaster.
Herreweghe founded La Chapelle Royale and Collegium Vocale Gent and is renowned as a conductor, with a repertoire ranging from Rena ...
,
René Jacobs
René Jacobs (born 30 October 1946) is a Belgian musician. He came to fame as a countertenor, but later in his career he became known as a conductor of baroque and classical opera.
Biography Countertenor
Born in Ghent, Jacobs began his music ...
,
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Johann Nikolaus Harnoncourt or historically Johann Nikolaus Graf de la Fontaine und d'Harnoncourt-Unverzagt; () (6 December 1929 – 5 March 2016) was an Austrian conductor, particularly known for his historically informed performances of music ...
,
Frans Brüggen
Franciscus ("Frans") Jozef Brüggen (30 October 1934 – 13 August 2014) was a Dutch Conducting, conductor, recorder player and baroque flautist.
Biography
Born in Amsterdam, Brüggen was the last of the nine children of August Brüggen, a textile ...
, and
John Eliot Gardiner
Sir John Eliot Gardiner (born 20 April 1943) is an English conductor, particularly known for his performances of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach.
Life and career
Born in Fontmell Magna, Dorset, son of Rolf Gardiner and Marabel Hodgkin, Gard ...
. The most recent chief conductor of the choir was Hans-Christoph Rademann, from 2007 to 2015. In April 2016, the choir announced the appointment of Justin Doyle as its next chief conductor and music director, effective with the 2017-2018 season. Doyle is currently contracted to the choir through July 2027. The current administrative director (''Chordirektor'') of the choir is Bernhard Hess (Heß), currently contracted through July 2026.
The choir has made commercial recordings for such labels as Deutsche Grammophon, harmonia mundi, both on its own and in works that feature orchestra and chorus.
Chief conductors
* Herbert Froitzheim (1948–1954)
* Günther Arndt (1954–1972)
*
Uwe Gronostay
Uwe Gronostay (25 October 1939 – 29 November 2008) was a German choral conductor and composer.
Born in Hildesheim, he grew up in Braunschweig and was already organist of the Jakobikirche at age 15. He studied church music in Bremen and worked ...
(1972–1986)
*
Marcus Creed
Marcus Creed (April 19, 1951) is an English conductor.
Born in Eastbourne, Sussex (South England), he was educated at Eastbourne Grammar School, King's College, Cambridge, Christ Church, Oxford, and Guildhall School in London. He moved to Ger ...
Harmonia Mundi
Harmonia Mundi is an independent record label which specializes in classical music, jazz, and world music (on the World Village label). It was founded in France in 1958 and is now a subsidiary of PIAS Entertainment Group.
Its Latin name ''ha ...
WorldCat
WorldCat is a union catalog that itemizes the collections of tens of thousands of institutions (mostly libraries), in many countries, that are current or past members of the OCLC global cooperative. It is operated by OCLC, Inc. Many of the OCL ...