Virtuoso Weimar with three choirs
Inaugural concert of Prof. Kerstin Behnke with via-nova-chor Munich, university choir and "ensemble:"
In the series "Virtuoso Weimar - Teachers in Concert" there is a festive inaugural concert. Choral conducting professor Kerstin Behnke presents herself with an extensive program and three of her choirs at once on Saturday, January 21 at 5:00 p.m. in the Festsaal Fürstenhaus of the Weimar University of Music.
At the center of the inaugural concert is the renowned via-nova-chor Munich, flanked by the two ensembles for which Prof. Kerstin Behnke is responsible at her university: the 60-member university choir made up of students from the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar and the Bauhaus University Weimar, as well as the smaller "ensemble:" of the conservatory with 16 members.
The presented program of the via-nova-chor München is based on a survey in the choir, which works from the last two programs the choir would like to sing again. These include Johannes Brahms' "Why is the Light Given," Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck's "Magnificat" and Arvo Pärt's "The Deer's Cry."
The international students of the university choir could decide on the language of one of the pieces: Thus, the choral works "Farout", "By the numbers" and "Crossing the bar" by Michael Ostrzyga will be heard. Finally, the "ensemble:" chose the works for the evening from the current semester's repertoire, including "So fahr ich hin" by Heinrich Schütz.
"A performance with your own ensembles is special," explains choral conducting professor Kerstin Behnke. "An instrument made up of other people always thrives on interpersonal communication, an equally giving and receiving togetherness." She emphasized this aspect in this concert: Each ensemble had the opportunity to influence the programming.
Tickets at 12 euros, reduced 8 euros, are available at the Tourist Information Weimar and at the box office.
Kerstin Behnke succeeded Florian Helgath at the via-nova-chor München at the same time as she took up her professorship for choral and ensemble conducting in Weimar in 2017. The via-nova-chor München was founded by Kurt Suttner in 1972 and was significantly shaped for 35 years. From 2008 to 2016, Florian Helgath was the choir's artistic director. The choir feels particularly committed to contemporary choral music, without, however, neglecting the musical tradition. It offers composers a forum for the performance of new choral works, as impressively demonstrated by the number of over 70 world premieres.
Various trips have taken the via-nova-chor to Italy, Spain, Ireland, Norway, Hungary, Taiwan and South Korea, among other places. It won first prizes at international choral competitions in The Hague (1977), Cork (1985/87), Budapest (1991), Tolosa (1994/2009) and Debrecen (2014). In 2019, via-nova-chor participated as a finalist in the International Choir Competition of the European Broadcasting Union EBU "Let the peoples sing". In addition to numerous radio recordings, there are also CD recordings of the choir.
The university choir includes students of the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar who do not play orchestral instruments and are expected to gain experience in a large ensemble. They sing together with students of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and fellow students of the Musikhochschule who enjoy singing in a choir. The instrumentation is different each semester. The choir will participate in the production of "Fledermaus" by the Department of Voice and Music Theatre in April 2023. The compositions by Michael Ostrzyga were created for the "chorcom" in Hannover.
The vocal ensemble ensemble: of the Weimar University of Music was founded by Prof. Kerstin Behnke. The 16 singers are dedicated to old as well as new and experimental music. The ensemble presented its own compositions and free improvisations at the "chorcom" in Hannover 2021. It also sang various works by composers from the Weimar Academy of Music as part of the 150th anniversary year of the University of Music FRANZ LISZT Weimar. In March 2023, the "ensemble:" will go on a concert tour to Valencia and perform in the summer as part of the inaugural concert of composition professor Maximilian Marcoll.
[9 January 2023]