The WDR Rundfunkchor Köln (West German Radio Choir Cologne) is the choir of the German broadcaster

Westdeutscher Rundfunk Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (''West German Broadcasting Cologne''; WDR, ) is a German public-broadcasting institution based in the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia with its main office in Cologne. WDR is a constituent member of the conso ...

(WDR), based in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 millio ...

. It was founded in 1947. The choir premiered works by contemporary composers including Arnold Schoenberg's unfinished opera ''

Moses und Aron ''Moses und Aron'' (English: ''Moses and Aaron'') is a three-act opera by Arnold Schoenberg with the third act unfinished. The German-language, German libretto is by the composer after the Book of Exodus. Hungarian composer Zoltán Kocsis complet ...

'' in 1954, Karlheinz Stockhausen's '' Momente'', Luigi Nono's ''

Il canto sospeso ''Il canto sospeso'' (''The Suspended Song'') is a cantata for vocal soloists, choir, and orchestra by the Italian composer Luigi Nono, written in 1955–56. It is one of the most admired examples of serial composition from the 1950s, but has al ...

'', Bernd Alois Zimmermann's ''

Requiem für einen jungen Dichter ' (''Requiem for a Young Poet'') is an extended composition by Bernd Alois Zimmermann, written from 1967 to 1969 for two speakers, soprano and baritone soloists, three choirs, jazz band, organ, tapes and a large orchestra. Subtitled ''Lingual'' (sp ...

'' and Penderecki's '' St Luke Passion''.

History

A forerunner was a chamber choir, "Kammerchor des Kölner Senders", founded in 1927 for the "Reichssender Köln" that was dissolved in 1940. WDR Rundfunkchor Köln was founded in Cologne as ''Kölner Rundfunkchor'' (Cologne Radio Choir) in 1947. The first rehearsal was on 1 September in the hall of the church

St. Agnes Agnes of Rome () is a virgin martyr, venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as the Anglican Communion and Lutheranism, Lutheran Churches. St. Agn ...

. Bernhard Zimmermann rehearsed Mozart's '' Ave verum corpus''. The choir was at first the Cologne choir of the broadcaster Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR), while the

Hamburg Hamburg (, ; nds, label=Hamburg German, Low Saxon, Hamborg ), officially the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg (german: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg; nds, label=Low Saxon, Friee un Hansestadt Hamborg),. is the List of cities in Germany by popul ...

choir was the NWDR Chor. When the broadcaster split in 1956 into NDR and WDR, the Kölner Rundfunkchor became the choir of the

Program

The choir of 45 singers has a repertory of

medieval music Medieval music encompasses the sacred and secular music of Western Europe during the Middle Ages, from approximately the 6th to 15th centuries. It is the first and longest major era of Western classical music and followed by the Renaissanc ...

contemporary music Contemporary classical music is classical music composed close to the present day. At the beginning of the 21st century, it commonly referred to the post-1945 modern forms of post-tonal music after the death of Anton Webern, and included se ...

, sacred music, oratorio, operetta, and music of computer games and film. The regularly perform cantatas and

a cappella ''A cappella'' (, also , ; ) music is a performance by a singer or a singing group without instrumental accompaniment, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. The term ''a cappella'' was originally intended to differentiate between Ren ...

works in churches of the region. A series ''Musik am Mittag'' (Music at noon) in the Minoritenkirche invites the audience to participate. The choir has been focused on contemporary music and has performed more than 150 premieres of new works, several of them commissioned by the WDR. The choir took part in pioneering projects, such as the concert premiere of Arnold Schoenberg's unfinished opera ''

'' in 1954. Karlheinz Stockhausen conducted in 1962 the first performance of his cantata '' Momente'' for soprano, four mixed choirs, and thirteen instrumentalists (four trumpets, four trombones, three percussionists, and two electric keyboards). Other premieres included

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 ...

''Laudes'', Luigi Nono's ''

'',

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 Mo ...

' '' Le Visage nuptial'', Bernd Alois Zimmermann's ''

'', Penderecki's '' St Luke Passion'',

Iannis Xenakis Giannis Klearchou Xenakis (also spelled for professional purposes as Yannis or Iannis Xenakis; el, Γιάννης "Ιωάννης" Κλέαρχου Ξενάκης, ; 29 May 1922 – 4 February 2001) was a Romanian-born Greek-French avant-garde c ...

' ''Nuits'',

Luciano Berio Luciano Berio (24 October 1925 – 27 May 2003) was an Italian composer noted for his experimental work (in particular his 1968 composition ''Sinfonia'' and his series of virtuosic solo pieces titled ''Sequenza''), and for his pioneering work ...

's ''Coro'',

York Höller York Höller (; born 11 January 1944) is a German composer and professor of composition at the Hochschule für Musik Köln. Biography Höller was born in Leverkusen. Between 1963 and 1970 he studied at the Cologne Musikhochschule: composition wit ...

's ''Der ewige Tag'',

Péter Eötvös Péter Eötvös ( hu, Eötvös Péter, ; born 2 January 1944) is a Hungarian composer, conductor and teacher. Eötvös was born in Székelyudvarhely, Transylvania, then part of Hungary, now Romania. He studied composition in Budapest and C ...

' ''IMA'' and

Toshio Hosokawa is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music. He studied in Germany but returned to Japan, finding a personal style inspired by classical Japanese music and culture. He has composed operas, the oratorio ''Voiceless Voice in Hiroshima'' ...

's ''Die Lotosblume''. The choir has performed internationally, for example in 2013 in Mahler's Second Symphony with choir and orchestra of the

Bayerischer Rundfunk Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR; "Bavarian Broadcasting") is a public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD consortium of public broadcas ...

conducted by Mariss Jansons at the

Salzburg Festival The Salzburg Festival (german: Salzburger Festspiele) is a prominent festival of music and drama established in 1920. It is held each summer (for five weeks starting in late July) in the Austrian town of Salzburg, the birthplace of Wolfgang Ama ...

, the Lucerne Festival and

The Proms The BBC Proms or Proms, formally named the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts Presented by the BBC, is an eight-week summer season of daily orchestral classical music concerts and other events held annually, predominantly in the Royal Albert Hal ...

. In Oktober 2013 the choir performed Schönberg's ''

Gurre-Lieder ' is a large cantata for five vocal soloists, narrator, chorus and large orchestra, composed by Arnold Schoenberg, on poems by the Danish novelist Jens Peter Jacobsen (translated from Danish to German by ). The title means "songs of Gurre", ref ...

'' with the Rundfunkchor Berlin and the

Berlin Philharmonic The Berlin Philharmonic (german: Berliner Philharmoniker, links=no, italic=no) is a German orchestra based in Berlin. It is one of the most popular, acclaimed and well-respected orchestras in the world. History The Berlin Philharmonic was fo ...

conducted by Sir Simon Rattle. In 2012, the WDR Rundfunkchor Köln was awarded the Echo Klassik in the category best choral recording for

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century ...

's ''Requiem''.

Choral directors

In its history, the choir had several chief conductors (''Chefdirigent''). Later the position of choral conductor (''Chorleiter'') was distinguished. They have been: * 1947–1962: Bernhard Zimmermann (previously held the same position in the choir of the original Westdeutsche Funkstunde, 1927–1933) * 1962–1989: Herbert Schernus * 1992–1998: Helmuth Froschauer * 2001–2004: Anton Marik * 2004–2011: Rupert Huber * 2014-2020:

Stefan Parkman Stefan Parkman (born 22 June 1952, in Uppsala) is a Swedish conductor. He is a professor at Uppsala University, where he holds the Eric Ericson chair of choral conducting. From 2002 to 2005, Parkman was the head conductor of the Swedish Radio C ...

* from 2020: Nicolas Fink

Recordings

* Mendelssohn: ''

Lobgesang ''Lobgesang'' (''Hymn of Praise''), Op. 52 ( MWV A 18), is an 11-movement "Symphony-Cantata on Words of the Holy Bible for Soloists, Choir and Orchestra" by Felix Mendelssohn. After the composer's death it was published as his Symphony No. 2 i ...

'',

Andrew Manze Andrew Manze (born 14 January 1965) is a British conductor and violinist living in Germany. Born in Beckenham, United Kingdom, Manze read Classics at Cambridge University. Manze studied violin and worked with Ton Koopman (his director in t ...

, Anna Lucia Richter,

Esther Dierkes Esther Dierkes (born 9 February 1990) is a German operatic, concert and lied soprano. Life and career Born in Münster, Dierkes received her first voice lessons at the age of 13. She achieved first prize in the national competition Jugend musi ...

, Robin Tritschler ,

NDR Radiophilharmonie The NDR Radiophilharmonie is a German radio orchestra, affiliated with the Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR) in Hanover, the capital of Lower Saxony. The orchestra principally gives concerts in the ''Großer Sendesaal'' of the '' Landesfunkhaus Nieder ...

, WDR Rundfunkchor Köln. Pentatone PTC 5186639 (2018) *

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

: ''Daphnis et Chloé'', conducted by Gustavo Gimeno, 2017 ( PENTATONE – PTC 5186652) *

Eduard Künneke Eduard Künneke (also seen as Edward and spelled Künnecke) (27 January 1885 – 27 October 1953 in Berlin) was a German composer notable for his operettas, operas, theatre music and some orchestral works. Kuenneke was born in Emmerich, Lower R ...

: ''Die lockende Flamme'', conducted by

Peter Falk Peter Michael Falk (September 16, 1927 – June 23, 2011) was an American film and television actor. He is best known for his role as Lieutenant Columbo in the long-running television series '' Columbo'' (1968–1978, 1989–2003), for which he ...

, 1994 (Capriccio – C5088) * Oscar Straus: ', conducted by Siegfried Köhler. (Capriccio – C10753) * Weill: '' Der Kuhhandel'' conducted by Jan Latham-Koenig, 1992 (Capriccio – C60013-1)Presto Classical:
Weill, K.: Kuhhandel (Der) (Opera) Capriccio: C60013-1
', retrieved am 12 November 2016.

References

External links

* * *

Bach Cantatas Website {{Authority control Westdeutscher Rundfunk German choirs 1947 establishments in Germany Musical groups established in 1947 Musical groups from Cologne