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Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart (Choir)
Gaechinger Cantorey (Chamber Choir & Baroque Orchestra)

Founded: 1953 - Gächingen, a small village in the Swabian mountains on the outskirts of Stuttgart, Germany

Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart (1954-2016)

The Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart (= GKS) was founded in 1953 by Helmuth Rilling in Gächingen, a small village (in the Swabian Mountains) on the outskirts of Stuttgart, and it retained its name after moving to that city.

Often referred to as ‘the master-singers of Stuttgart’, they are distinguished from other choirs by requiring superior music training of all candidates for membership, and by suiting themselves to the requirements of the works to be performed, from 24 to over 100 singers. Its members come from all over south-west Germany and the German-speaking regions of Switzerland.

After mastering the entire a cappella repertoire available at the time, the choir turned towards oratorios of every period. It has played a considerable part in the rediscovery and representation of the Romantic choral repertoire, especially works by Johannes Brahms and Felix Mendelssohn. It is notable for its role in performing the first and hitherto only complete cycle of all J.S. Bach’s church cantatas and in giving the first performance of the Requiem of Reconciliation in 1995 in Stuttgart.

Enjoying an enviable reputation of one of the world’s finest vocal ensembles today, and a synonym for excellence, they have appeared throughout Europe, as well as the USA, Mexico, Japan and Israel (first appearance with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra in 1976), usually together with the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart.

The choir has won many recording prizes and has received critical acclaim for its CD, radio and television recordings.

Gaechinger Cantorey 2016-2017

With the 2016-2017 season a new era begins for the world-famous ensembles of the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart, which will then perform under the joint name of Gaechinger Cantorey. Originally, the choir which Helmuth Rilling founded in 1954 was called the Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart. This was heard in all the well-known international concert halls with illustrious partners such as the Wiener Philharmoniker, New York Philharmonic Orchestra and Israel Philharmonic Orchestra.

The historicised spelling of the name Gaechinger Cantorey now refers both to the choir, widely recognised and recently transformed by Hans-Christoph Rademann since he became Akademie Director in 2013, and also to the the newly-formed baroque orchestra of the Internationale Bachakademie which performs alongside the choir.

In the 18th century, the era of J.S. Bach, the term »choir« did not just mean what it has come to mean today – an ensemble comprising exclusively of singers. »Choir« could just as well mean »instrumental choir», that is an orchestra. Against the background of this tradition, in 1730, in a written petition to Leipzig city council, Bach grouped both singers and instrumentalists together in the concept of a »well-established church music ensemble«, and thought carefully about the ideal musical forces which, in his opinion, a music director should have at his disposal.

It was self-evident to Bach that, in these ideal forces, the instruments of the orchestra should blend with the voices of the choral singers to form a homogeneous, and at the same time translucent overall sound. Today we can only achieve this authentic sound ideal through the use of baroque instruments, by using players familiar with baroque performance practice techniques, and by forming a choir from singers who are equally at home with the demands of being a »ripienist« (ensemble singer) and a »concertist« (soloist).

By deciding to have its own baroque orchestra and a choir formed of singers with practical, performing criteria in mind, the Bachakademie is forging a new path. The basic kind of sound, and at the same time the unique international selling point of this new approach underlies the Bachakademie’s decision to commission a historical replica of a chamber organ by the legendary organ builder and contemporary of J.S. Bach, Gottfried Silbermann. An original instrument by him has recently been discovered in Seerhausen, Saxony. As an example of the baroque sound, true to the original, this replica embodies the approach at the very heart of a Bachakademie of the future.

The newly-founded baroque orchestra and the newly-constituted choir of the Bachakademie will perform under the joint name Gaechinger Cantorey from now onwards. Based on the historic foundations of the J.S. Bach era, and with roots in the living performance history of the choir founded by Helmuth Rilling, this name represents an integrated musical approach and the aesthetic sound ideal of the Baroque.

Members of Gaechinger Cantorey Chor (2017-2023):

Sopranos

Altos

Tenors

Basses

Lore Agusti
Henriette Autenrieth
Bobbie Blommesteijn
Alice Borciani
Elisabeth Breuer
Miriam Burkhardt
Lucy De Butts
Gloria Ebert [MB]
Miriam Feuersinger
Beate Heitzmann [MB]
Natasha Hogarth
Birgit Jacobi-Kircheis
Isabel Jantschek
Magdalena Kircheis [MB]
Sarah Krispin [MB]
Katja Kunze
Ranveig Lægreid
Minyoung Catharina Häger (Minyoung Lee)
Stephanie Lönne
Ellen Majer
Christiane Opfermann [MB]
Uta Scheirle
Anja Scherg
Natasha Schnur
Birgit Schneider
Mirjam Striegel
Leonie Zehle

Magdalena Fischer
Jennifer Gleinig
Anne Hartmann
Constanze Hirsch
Pascale Jonczyk
Tobias Knaus
Anna Krawzcuk
Wiebke Kretzschmar
Sandra Marks
Jonathan Mayenschein
Brynne McLeod
Rebekka Neetz
Franziska Neumann [MB]
Alex Potter
Judith Rautenberg
Adam Schilling
Patricia Wagner

Hwan-Cheol Ahn [MB]
Christian Aretz [MB]
Friedrich Bracks
Jörg Deutschewitz
Christoph Eder
Florian Feth
Christopher B. Fischer
Sebastian Franz
Wolfgang Frisch-Catalano
Patrick Grahl
Christoph Haßler [MB]
Julian Habermann
Henning Jensen
Andrejus Kalinovas
Daniel Karrasch
Achim Kleinlein
Paul Kmetsch
Benedikt Kristjánsson
Tobias Liebelt
Julian Metzger [MB]
Klemens Mölkner
Laurin Oppermann
Christoph Pfaller
Claudius Pobbig
Christopher Renz
Bernhard Schmidt
Gabriel Sin
Hitoshi Tamada
Hannes Wagner

Andrey Akhmetov
Tobias Ay
Tobias Berndt
Dávid Csizmár
Robert Elibay-Hartog
Leonhard Geiger
Tobias Germeshausen
Philipp Goldmann
Peter Harvey
Philipp Kaven
Menno Koller
Julián Millán
Simón Millán
Stefan Müller-Ruppert
Jens Paulus
Hanns Pommerien
Georg Preißler [MB]
Alexander Schmidt [MB]
Florian Schmitt-Bohn
Martin Schicketanz
Felix Schwandtke
Philipp Unger
Stefan Weiler
Matthias Winckhler

MB = Missing Biography. If you would like to contribute a biography of the artist, please send me a message. My e-mail address and the instructions can be found at the page: Short Biographies - Explanation.

 

Sources:
Liner notes to the 2-CD album ‘Bach: St. John Passion’ conducted by Helmuth Rilling (Hänssler, 2000)
Programme notes to a special concert of Vocal Music with the
Israel Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Helmuth Rilling (January 1976)
BachAkademie Website, English translation by Aryeh Oron (September 2016)
Contributed by
Aryeh Oron (May 2001, March 2018, February 2024); Johan van Veen (September 2016)

Fausto Fungaroli: Short Biography | Ensembles: Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart | Bach-Collegium Stuttgart
Bach Discography:
Recordings of Vocal Works

Mattiass Manasi: Short Biography | Ensembles: Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart | Bach-Collegium Stuttgart
Bach Discography:
Recordings of Vocal Works

Hans-Christoph Rademann: Short Biography | Ensembles: Dresdner Kammerchor | Dresdner Barockorchester | JSB Ensemble | Gaechinger Cantorey
Bach Discography:
Recordings of Cantatas | Recordings of Other Vocal Works

Recordings of Bach Cantatas & Other Vocal Works

Conductor

As

Works

Walter Forchert

Choir

[CR-21] (1974?, Radio recording): BWV 21

Links to other Sites

Gächinger Kantorei (BachAkademie) [German]

Helmuth Rilling: Short Biography | Ensembles: Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart | Frankfurter Kantorei | Figuralchor der Gedächtniskirche Stuttgart | Bach-Collegium Stuttgart | JSB Ensemble
Bach Discography: Recordings of Vocal Works: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13
Table of recordings by BWV Number
General Discussions: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5
Discussions of Cantatas: Edition Bachakademie - Vols. 1-20 | Edition Bachakademie - Vol. 9 | Edition Bachakademie - Vol. 60 | Arleen Augér sings Bach - conducted by H. Rilling | Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau sings Bach - conducted by H. Rilling
Cantate Label: Recordings of Vocal Works | General Discussions
Discussions of Other Vocal Works: BWV 232 - H. Rilling | BWV 243 - H. Rilling | BWV 244 - H. Rilling | BWV 245 - H. Rilling | BWV 248 - H. Rilling | Chorales - H. Rilling
Bach Festivals and Cantata Series: Oregon Bach Festival


Biographies of Performers: Main Page | A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z
Explanation | Acronyms | Missing Biographies | The Sad Corner




 

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Last update: Monday, February 26, 2024 13:54