Choriner Musiksommer 2019

Vladimir Jurowski has been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin since 2017. He has meanwhile extended his contract until 2027. In parallel, he has been General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich since 2021.

After receiving training at the Moscow Conservatory The conductor, pianist and musicologist Vladimir Jurowski emigrated to Germany in 1990. Here he continued his studies at the music conservatories in Dresden and Berlin.  In 1995 he made his international debut at the British Wexford Festival with Rimski-Korsakov’s Mainacht and in the same year at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden with Nabucco. Subsequently he was, among other things, First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper Berlin (1997- 2001) and Music Director of the Glyndebourne Festival Opera (2001-2013). In 2003 Vladimir Jurowski was appointed Principal Guest Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra and has been its Principal Conductor since 2007 until 2021. He was also Artistic Director of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra Yevgeny Svetlanov of the Russian Federation until 2021, Artistic Director of the International George Enescu Festival in Bucharest and Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Great Britain. He works regularly with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the ensemble unitedberlin.

Vladimir Jurowski has conducted the major orchestras of Europe and North America, including the Berlin, Vienna and New York Philharmonic Orchestras, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam, the Cleveland and Philadelphia Orchestras, the Boston and Chicago Symphony Orchestras, the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Staatskapelle Dresden and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra.

He is a recurring guest conductor in in London, Berlin, Dresden, Luzern, Schleswig-Holstein und Grafenegg as well as at the Rostopowitsch-Festival. Although Vladimir Jurowski is invited as a guest conductor by top orchestras from all over the world, in future he would like to concentrate his activities on that geographical area which is acceptable to him from an ecological point of view.

In 2022/2023 he performed with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin in concerts in various cities in Germany, Italy and Antwerp in the Netherlands. The joint CD recordings of Vladimir Jurowski and the RSB began in 2015 with Alfred Schnittke’s Symphony No. 3, followed by works by Britten, Hindemith, Strauss, Mahler and soon again Schnittke.

Vladimir Jurowski has been the recipient of numerous awards for his achievements, including various international record prizes. In 2016, he was bestowed an honorary doctorate from Prince Charles at the Royal College of Music in London. In 2018, the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards named him Conductor of the Year. In summer 2020, Jurowski was awarded the Order of Cultural Merit by the Romanian President in recognition of his work as Artistic Director of the George Enescu Festival.

Soprano Chen Reiss performed leading parts at the Vienna State Opera, Bavarian State Opera, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Teatro alla Scala, Semperoper Dresden, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Hamburg State Opera, De Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam,Wiener Festwochen, Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, Opera Company of Philadelphia and the Israeli Opera.

In 2016 She sang Morgana (Alcina) under Marc Minkowski at the Vienna State Opera, as well as Gretel and Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier). With the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Zubin Mehta, she sang a gala concert for Suntory Hall 30th Anniversary. In the same year Ms. Reiss also made her debut with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra under Daniele Gatti and sang Marzelline (Fidelio) with the Israel Philharmonic. In 2017 she will sing Zdenka (Arabella) and Marzelline (Fidelio) at the Vienna State Opera, Liu (Turandot) with the Israel Philharmonic, as well as  concerts with the Chicago Symphony, Munich Philharmonic and Lucerne symphony. She will perform at the London Proms, Lucerne Festival, SHMF and many more. Her debut at the Royal Opera House under Antonio Pappano is planned for 2018.

In December 2014 Chen Reiss was invited to sing for Pope Francis during the Christmas Mass, which was broadcast worldwide. Accompanied by the Berlin Philharmonic and Sir Simon Rattle, Ms. Reiss sang the soundtrack to the film “Perfume”. A frequent soloist at important concert venues worldwide, Ms. Reiss sang with distinguished conductors such as: Daniel Barenboim, Christoph Eschenbach, Daniele Gatti, Daniel Harding, Manfred Honeck, Marek Janowski, Paavo Järvi, James Levine, Zubin Mehta, Mark Minkowski, Jonathan Nott, Donald Runnicles, Jeffrey Tate, Christian Thielemann and Franz Welser-Möst.

She performed concerts at the Salzburg, Ludwigsburg, Rheingau and Lucerne Festivals, as well as in Carnegie Hall, Vienna’s Musikverein and Palais des Beaux-Arts in Brussels. Other concert appearances include: Vienna Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin, Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, Radio Symphony Orchestra Berlin, Tonhalle Düsseldorf, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Philharmonie Berlin, Concerto Köln, Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Orchestre de Paris, Orchestre National de France, Pittsburgh Symphony and Dallas Symphony, among others.

Her operatic repertoire includes: Gilda (Rigoletto), Adina (L’elisir d’amore), Amina (LA Sonnambula), Nannetta (Falstaff), Oscar (Un ballo in maschera), Marie (La fille du régiment), Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier), Zdenka (Arabella), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), Ilia (Idomeneo), Servilia (La clemenza di Tito), Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro), Konstanze (Die Entfuehrung aus dem Serail), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Euridice (Orfeo ed Euridice), Adele (Die Fledermaus), and the title role in Das Schlaue Füchslein.

Her solo album, LIAISONS, won the Diapason D’or in 2011. On her latest album “Le Rossignol et la Rose” Chen Reiss presents a romantic compilation of songs with distinguished pianist Charles Spencer.

Topi Lehtipuu enjoys a reputation as one of Finland’s most highly individual artists. In addition to a career as a tenor of international renown, Topi also enjoys a career as artistic consultant and curator. He was Director of the Helsinki Festival from 2015 to 2018, a wide-ranging and innovative multi-arts festival and a major event in Finland’s cultural year. He was also artistic director of Turku Music Festival from 2010 to 2015, as well as of Joroinen Music Days, a chamber music festival in eastern Finland.

As a singer, Topi has appeared in concert halls and opera houses throughout the world. An extremely versatile artist and a highly-skilled stage performer, he is renowned equally for repertoire ranging from early music, through Bach, Mozart and classical composers, to contemporary creations enjoying close relationships with the world’s leading conductors and directors.

Highlights in 2018-19 include the creation of the role of The Creature in Frankenstein, a new opera by Mark Gray, commissioned by La Monnaie/De Munt; Dionysus in Henze’s DieBassariden in Berlin’s Komische Oper, directed by Barrie Kosky and conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, as well as the creation of a multi-disciplinary dance and vocal project with the renowned Tero Saarinen Dance Company, featuring music by Monteverdi.

The baritone Dietrich Henschel is known as a regular guest at major opera houses, as a valued interpreter of song and oratorio, as the inventor and protagonist of a wide range of multimedia projects. His repertoire ranges from Monteverdi to the avant-garde.

Henschel began his international career with a co-production between Opéra de Lyon and Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris in the title role of Busoni’s opera Doktor Faust, for which he won a Grammy Award.

The singer’s leading roles include Rossini’s Figaro, Wolfram in Wagner’s Tannhäuser, Monteverdi’s Ulisse and Orfeo, Mozart’s Don Giovanni, Alban Berg’s Wozzeck and Dr. Schön in Lulu, Golaud in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande and Nick Shadow in Stravinsky’s The Rake’s Progress. Contemporary opera also has an important part in Henschel’s repertoire; many great composers such as Pèter Éötvös, Detlev Glanert, Manfred Trojahn, Peter Ruzicka or Chaja Czernowin entrusted him with important roles in the premieres of their works.

In orchestral concerts, Henschel regularly works with conductors such as Sylvain Cambreling, Kent Nagano, Riccardo Chailly and Vladimir Jurowski. Recordings with John Eliot Gardiner, Philippe Herreweghe, Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Sir Colin Davis document his oratorio work. He has performed scenic versions of Schubert song cycles in La Monnaie, Theater an der Wien, Norske Opera Oslo and the Komische Oper Berlin, among others. In the project IRRSAL – triptych of forbidden love, conceived together with the director Clara Pons, orchestral songs by Hugo Wolf were combined with a feature film shot especially for their live performance; the great success of this project led to the follow-up project Wunderhorn, an international co-production involving 8 partner institutions, including La Monnaie, Bruxelles, BBC Symphony Orchestra London and De Doelen, Rotterdam.

The 2021/22 season includes the world premiere of Francesco Filidei’s The Red Death at the 100th anniversary of the Donaueschinger Musiktage, Bach’s St Matthew Passion with the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and Britten’s War Requiem with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. At the festival in Montepulciano, Henschel will perform Gaetano Donizetti’s opera Rita alongside the acclaimed soprano Patrizia Ciofi. In autumn 2022 he will make his role debut as Faninal in a production of Der Rosenkavalier at the Théâtre La Monnaie.

The Vocalconsort Berlin was formed in 2003 by arts and cultural managers Volkert Uhde and Markus Schuck, and in the same year successfully debuted Monteverdi’s “L’Orfeo” at the Innsbruck Festival of Early Music under the direction of René Jacobs.

The Berlin-based ensemble specializes in music of the early and high baroque, but frequently presents romantic and contemporary works as well. The variability and flexibility of this group allows the ensemble to perform equally well as a solo quartet or a large chamber choir with multiple solo parts, thereby making the choir perfect for concert performances as well as staged productions such as opera.

The Vocalconsort’s homogeneous and dynamic sound has led the group to work together with well-known directors such as Marcus Creed, Pablo Heras-Casado, René Jacobs, Daniel Reuss, Olof Bomon and Ottavio Dantone and excellent ensembles such as the Kammerorchester Basel, the Akademie für alte Musik, Accademia Bizantina, the Sharoun Ensemble and Ensemble musikFabrik. On stage, Vocalconsort Berlin has cooperated with internationally successful directors and choreographers such as Sasha Waltz, Hans-Werner Kroesinger, Barrie Kosky and Luc Perceval.

The Vocalconsort Berlin has given guest performances at such events as the Berlin-based “zeitfenster–biennale alter musik” festival, the “Zermatt Festival” and the Berlin Staatsoper’s Cadenza baroque festival, as well as in the renowned concert halls of Antwerp and Gent, Ferrara, Amsterdam, Brussels, Tel Aviv, Barcelona, London, Paris, Vienna, the Salzburg Festival, the Handel Festival Halle, the Cité de la Musique Paris, the Rheingau Music Festival, and the Musikfest Bremen.

In 2005, the opera “Dido & Aeneas” by Henry Purcell premiered in Luxembourg starring Sasha Waltz as choreographer. The production has enjoyed international success with over 50 performances on three continents. Since 2006 the Vocalconsort Berlin has served as the house ensemble to Sasha
Waltz & Guests, the Ensemble Kaleidoskop and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin at the RADIALSYSTEM V venue. In 2007, the opera “Medea” by Pascal Dusapin premiered in Luxembourg starring Sasha Waltz as choreographer, with performances taking the Vocalconsort to the Netherlands and France, and even to Australia. In 2008, the Vocalconsort Berlin received the “German Record Critic’s Award” for its debut double CD “Hugo Distler – Geistliche Chormusik op. 12, Weihnachtsgeschichte op. 10” (“Hugo Distler – Sacred Choral Music opus 12, Christmas Story opus 10”). In 2009, the Vocalconsort Berlin participated in “DIALOGE 09”, a project designed by Sasha Waltz to mark the reopening of the Neues Museum Berlin. The CD “ODE for the birthday of QUEEN ANNE” with the famous “Dixit Dominus” HWV 232, which was recorded together with Andreas Scholl and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin
under Marcus Creed, was released by “harmonia mundi france”. In 2011, “harmonia mundi france” also released a highly acclaimed recording of Bach’s
motets, which was also conducted by Marcus Creed. In May 2011, the Vocalconsort participated in the world premiere of “Matsukaze”, an opera by Toshio Hosakawa. A Sasha Waltz production conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado, further performances have since taken place in Warsaw, Luxembourg, and at the Staatsoper im Schillertheater in Berlin. Also in May 2011, the Vocalconsort participated in the successful scenic adaptation of “Die Jahreszeiten” by Haydn at the O.T. Theater in Rotterdam, which was directed by Miriam Koen and Gerrit Timmers.

Ralf Sochaczewsky received conducting lessons under Christian Grube and Marc Piollet at the Berlin University of the Arts. Later he studied choir conducting under Jörg-Peter Weigle and orchestral conducting under Prof. Reuter at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler”.

He directs the Berlin choir Cantus Domus, with which he won a 1st prize at the Berlin Choir Competition in 2017 and a 3rd prize at the 8th Choir Competition of the Deutscher Musikrat in Dortmund . From 1998 to 2012, he conducted the Ensemberlino Vocale choir and successfully participated in choir competitions (1st prize at Chorfest Bremen (Bremen Choir Festival) 2008).

He regularly works with choirs like the Berlin Vocalconsort, the Cappella Amsterdam, the RIAS Kammerchor, and the Berliner Rundfunkchor.

In 2016, he conducted the European premiere of the oratorio “Anthracite Fields” by Julia Wolfe, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2015, with the DR Vocalensemble and Bang on a Can-All Stars.

Ralf Sochaczewsky has performed with orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, the National Radio Orchestra Bucharest, and the Chamber Orchestra of the Minsk Philharmonic. He conducted operas at the Bolshoi Theatre Moscow, the Komische Oper Berlin, the Opera National du Rhin, and the Lithuanian National Opera.

Ralf Sochaczewsky collaborated with various pop groups and artists such as Stargaze and André de Ridder, Bon Iver, Damien Rice, Lisa Hannigan, and Tocotronic. With Cantus Domus, he is a regular guest at festivals such as HaldernPop and KalternPop.

He teaches choral conducting at the Hochschule für Musik “Hanns Eisler”. For his great service to the Berlin choir scene, the Chorverband Berlin awarded him the Geschwister Mendelssohn Medal in 2017.