On tour in two neighbouring countries
Chamber Choir of the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar gives guest performances in France and Luxembourg
For four concerts, the Chamber Choir of the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar will travel to several French cities and to Luxembourg. From 27 March to 2 April, the singers will be on the road. They will perform their purely sacred a cappella programme "My heart shall live forever" in Metz, Nancy, Strasbourg and Luxembourg City. Nikolaas Schmeer, Clément Michelot and Prof. Jürgen Puschbeck conduct the choir.
The concerts will take place mainly in churches: in Metz in the "Temple Neuf" (28.3.), in Nancy in the "Église Saint Sébastien" (29.3.), in Strasbourg in the "Èglise Saint-Thomas" (31.3.) and in Luxembourg in the "Èglise Protestante du Luxembourg" (1.4.). The students are actively shaping their trip in many ways. For example, the initiative came from Clément Michelot, who took the organisation into his own hands with great commitment. He studies choral conducting in Weimar and comes from the region of France to which the trip is going.
Part of the programme was also written by a student: Nikolaas Schmeer. He also studies choral conducting and has been singing in the chamber choir for five years. On the coming trip, a "Missa Brevis" ("short mass") composed by him will be premiered. The student dedicated it to the chamber choir in 2021. Because of the Corona pandemic, however, the performance had to wait until now. Prof. Jürgen Puschbeck emphasises: "Nikolaas Schmeer will of course conduct the demanding work himself in all concerts!
In addition to the premiere, the programme includes the new psalm composition "My God, why have you forsaken me" (Psalm 22) by the Finnish contemporary composer Jaakko Mäntyjärvi. The "Pater noster" from the oratorio "Christus" by Franz Liszt will also be performed. Works by Max Reger and Felix Mendessohn Bartholdy will also be sung.
Soloists are Mirijam Denz (soprano), Lena Heilmann (alto), Nikolaas Schmeer (tenor) and Maximilian Thom (bass). Maasa Morimoto will travel with them as violinist.
In addition to the concerts, the chamber choir members are looking forward to a workshop at the Strasbourg Music Conservatory. The French students will bring their own pieces and rehearse them with the Weimar singers. "That will certainly be exciting," says choir director Jürgen Puschbeck.
The chamber choir is mainly made up of students from the school music programme as well as from the conducting and singing programmes. Students from the Bauhaus University are also part of the choir, which was founded in 1926. The choir has been directed by Prof. Jürgen Puschbeck since 1997. Numerous prizes and awards testify to the artistic quality of the ensemble. Past trips have already taken the choir to Italy, the Ukraine, the USA and Japan. Musically, it devotes itself mainly to the a cappella literature of the 16th to 20th centuries.
[23 March 2023]