Hamburg Exchange May 2014

In May of this year the choir flew to Hamburg as the first part of an exchange with the Bergedorfer Kammerchor. The return visit will hopefully take place in August 2015.

The choir sang in St. Michaelis church, one of the 5 main Lutheran churches in Hamburg, St. Marien and St. Aegidien churches in Lubeck, culminating with a marvellous combined concert at the Hasse Hall in Bergedorf. Our programme included works by Gibbons, Byrd, Philips, Parry, Britten, Clements and Ramsey, and we even braved singing Brahms in German to a German audience! The highlight of the concert was probably “Sleep” by Eric Whitacre which received raptuous applause.

The Bergedorfer Kammerchor with their conductor Frank Löhr made us very welcome with a number of their members accompanying us on various social events including a tour of Hamburg by bus, a trip to Lubeck, kayaking on the River Bille and some combined meals, all of which helped to establish the friendship between the choirs.

Following the final concert they threw us a wonderful party, which coincided with a spectacular firework display marking the end of the Harbour Festival which had taken place in Bergedorf over the weekend.

This was a really enjoyable trip both socially and musically, and we look forward to hosting the Kammerchor next year. 

BERGEDORFER KAMMERCHOR

Since it was founded in 1946 by Helmut Wormbacher the choir has had an important part to play in the cultural life of Hamburg and north Germany.

Since 2003 the artistic development of the choir has been in the hands of Frank Löhr, Professor of choral and orchestral conducting at Hannover College of Music and Theatre.

There are approximately 50 singers and they perform sacred and secular choral works from all ages. Each concert has a carefully structured programme which over the series of concerts spans all styles of music.

Alongside performances in north Germany the choir regularly gives guest performances in the abbey at Marienmunster and has in recent years been on concert tours of Saxony and Italy.

The Bergedorfer Kammerchor is a member of the Association of German Concert Choirs.

 

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