The Christmas Oratorio

Vladimir Jurowski has been Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the RundfunkSinfonieorchester Berlin (RSB) since 2017. In 2023/2024, his concerts, tours and recordings were the highlights of the ‘RSB100’ anniversary season. His current contract in Berlin runs until 2027,
while he has also been General Music Director of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich since 2021.

Vladimir Jurowski, one of the most sought-after conductors of our time, who is celebrated worldwide for his innovative musical interpretations and equally for his courageous artistic commitment, was born in Moscow in 1972 and completed the first part of his music studies at the Music College of the Moscow Conservatory. He moved to Germany with his family in 1990 and continued his studies at the music academies in Dresden and Berlin. In 1995, he made his debut at the Wexford Festival in Ireland with Rimsky-Korsakov’s ‘Mainacht’ and in 1996 at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden with ‘Nabucco’. He was then First Kapellmeister of the Komische Oper Berlin (1997-2001).

Vladimir Jurowski worked as Chief Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra (LPO) for fifteen years until 2021 and has since been appointed Conductor Emeritus. In the UK, he was Music Director of Glyndebourne Festival Opera from 2001 to 2013, leading a wide range of highly acclaimed productions. His close connection to British musical life was recognised by King Charles III in spring 2024 when he appointed Vladimir Jurowski an Honorary Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (KBE). In April 2024, Vladimir Jurowski returned to London as a guest conductor to complete the concert performance cycle of Wagner’s ‘Ring’ with ‘Götterdämmerung’ with the LPO at the Royal Festival Hall.

He was Artistic Director of the State Academic Symphony Orchestra ‘Yevgeny Svetlanov’ of the Russian Federation until 2021 and Principal Artist of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in Great Britain, as well as Artistic Director of the International George Enescu Festival in Bucharest. He has also worked with the unitedberlin ensemble for many years. Vladimir Jurowski has suspended performances in Russia since February 2022. Ukrainian works are and will remain part of his repertoire, as will works by Russian composers.

Vladimir Jurowski has conducted concerts by the most important orchestras in Europe and North America, including the Berlin, Vienna and New York Philharmonics, 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 Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig. He is a regular guest at the music festivals in London, Berlin, Dresden, Lucerne, SchleswigHolstein and Grafenegg. Although Vladimir Jurowski is invited as a guest conductor by top orchestras from all over the world, he now concentrates his activities on those geographical areas that he can easily reach with reasonable effort from an ecological point of view.

The joint CD recordings by Vladimir Jurowski and the RSB began in 2015 with Alfred Schnittke’s Symphony No. 3, followed by works by Britten, Hindemith, Strauss, Mahler and again Schnittke. Vladimir Jurowski has been honoured many times for his achievements, including numerous international record awards. In 2016, he received an honorary doctorate from the Royal Philharmonic Society from the hands of the current King Charles III. In 2020, Vladimir Jurowski’s work as Artistic Director of the George Enescu Festival was honoured by the Romanian President with the Order of Cultural Merit.

Soprano Julia Grüter, who was born in North Rhine-Westphalia, has been a permanent member of the ensemble at the Staatstheater Nürnberg since the 2018/19 season. Since then, she has been involved in numerous productions there, such as Romilda (Xerxes) and Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), as well as Euridice (L’Orfeo by Monteverdi) and Fiordiligi (Cosí fan tutte). She sang the title role in La Calisto in 2020. In 2021/22, she made her debut with three major specialist roles: Micaëla (Carmen), Mélisande (Pelléas et Mélisande) and Sophie (Der Rosenkavalier). She made a further role and house debut as Zdenka (Arabella) at the Aaltotheater Essen. In the Nuremberg season 22/23, she again took on a title role in the baroque opera Talestri, and also gave her first Susanna (Le nozze di Figaro). Julia Grüter first appeared at the Bayreuth Festival in 2023 as the Flower Maiden (Parsifal) and the Young Shepherd (Tannhäuser). In 2023/24, she made another role debut as Donna Anna (Don Giovanni) in Nuremberg, which was acclaimed by the press and audience. In summer 2024, she will make a guest appearance at the Komische Oper Berlin in a staged production of Handel’s Messiah in the Tempelhof Hangar.

Numerous concerts have taken the soprano throughout Europe, including performances with the WDR Funkhausorchester, the Staatsphilharmonie Nürnberg, the Linz Brucknerorchester, the Orchestra della Svizzera italiana in Lugano and the Bern Symphony Orchestra. Her performances as a soloist in works such as Haydn’s Creation, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Mahler’s 4th Symphony and the Requiems by Mozart and Brahms, in collaboration with conductors such as Joana Mallwitz, Markus Poschner and Jac van Steen, are particularly noteworthy. She is also very fond of art song, focussing on French and German repertoire. In May 2023, she gave a recital of Hugo Wolf’s Italienisches Liederbuch at the Staatstheater Nürnberg.

Julia Grüter initially studied school music with Sabine Toliver, majoring in singing. She then went on to study classical singing at the Münster University of Music with Dr Zelotes Edmund Toliver, gaining top marks and an opera certificate. She continues to work closely with both teachers to this day. Her training was complemented by masterclasses with KS Brigitte Fassbaender and Mireille Delunsch, among others. Before joining the Nuremberg ensemble, Julia Grüter was a member of the Upper Austrian Opera Studio at the Landestheater Linz for two seasons.

Julia Grüter won second prize at the International Lied Duo Competition in Ratingen in 2015 and was a scholarship holder of the Richard Wagner Association in Dortmund the following year. In 2017, she impressed at the Linz Operetta Competition and was awarded both 1st prize and the Audience Award. At one of the most important competitions of our time, the ARD International Singing Competition, she beat several hundred competitors to win third prize in 2021.

Ulrike Malotta’s uniquely warm vocal sound and her sensitive musicianship have made her an internationally sought-after mezzo-soprano in a short space of time. The young singer’s versatility allows her to perform a broad repertoire, ranging from the Renaissance, Handel and Bach to Romantic oratorios, Mahler, Wagner and contemporary music.

In the 2024/25 season, she is looking forward to a tour with Bach cantatas under Justin Doyle and his RIAS Chamber Choir, a St. Matthew Passion tour through the Netherlands under the direction of Peter Dijkstra and a concert tour with Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Paulus, among others in Canada. She will sing Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis in Munich’s Herkulessaal, Paul Jenkins’ The Armed Man in Zurich’s Tonhalle and Stanford’s Requiem in Cologne’s Philharmonie. In the coming months, she will also be devoting herself increasingly to the Romantic Lied repertoire and will be appearing with her piano partner Hedayet Djeddikar on Lied stages throughout Germany with various programs, including at the Knechtsteden Early Music Festival and at klangwerk Lied Freiburg.
Ulrike Malotta is at home on the major international concert stages, such as the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Luxembourg Philharmonic, the Zurich Tonhalle, the Bozar Brussels, De Singel Antwerp, the Rudolfinum Prague, the Palau de la Música Catalana Barcelona and the Maison Symphonique Montréal.

Highlights of the past season included a European tour with Wagner’s Die Walküre under Kent Nagano, in which she took on the role of Waltraute. She sang the Christmas Oratorio under Christoph Poppen in Hong Kong and Mendelssohn’s Elijah at the Rheingau Music Festival. She has also made her debut at the Hamburg International Music Festival, the Dresden Music Festival, the Lucerne Festival, the Gstaad Menuhin Festival and many more.
She has been invited to perform with orchestras such as the Nederlandse Bachvereniging, the Akademie für Alte Musik, the Basel Chamber Orchestra, Concerto Köln, the Dresden Festival Orchestra, the Gürzenich Orchestra, the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra, the Bochum Symphony Orchestra, the Munich Radio Orchestra, the Munich Symphony Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Choir, the WDR Choir and the NDR Choir. She has worked with conductors such as Kent Nagano, Vladimir Jurowski, Peter Dijkstra, Václav Luks, Thomas Hengelbrock, Philippe Herreweghe, Ulf Schirmer, Christoph Poppen, Lars Ulrik Mortensen, Ainars Rubikis, Alexander Liebreich and Klaas Stok.

She also knows how to impress on the musical theater stage. She has made guest appearances at the Staatstheater Darmstadt (Endimione in La Calisto), the Staatstheater Wiesbaden (Floßhilde and 2nd Norn in Wagner’s Ring) and appeared as Ursuline in Penderecki’s The Devils of Loudun at the Bavarian State Opera.
Ulrike Malotta’s artistic work has been captured on numerous recordings, including J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion with Concerto Köln and the Bavarian Radio Choir under Peter Dijkstra (BR Klassik) and C. Loewe’s Jan Hus (Oehms).

Ulrike Malotta studied singing at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Munich and at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt, where she graduated with a Master’s degree. She attended master classes with Christa Ludwig, Christian Gerhaher, Helmut Deutsch, Andreas Scholl, Angelika Kirchschlager, Rudolf Piernay, Helmuth Rilling and Margreet Honig.

Anglo-German tenor Kieran Carrel has a busy and varied career, active in Opera, Concert and Recital.
As a member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, his repertoire includes Tamino; Don Ottavio; Walther Tannhäuser; Erik Der fliegende Holländer; Froh Das Rheingold; Narraboth Salome; Alfred Die Fledermaus; Count Almaviva Il barbiere di Siviglia and Lysander A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Concert highlights in the current season and beyond include Mendelssohn Lobgesang with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra and Diego Fasolis; a recording and tour of Schumann Das Paradies und die Peri with Jordi Savall; Bach Weihnachtsoratorium with the WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester and Evangelist in both the St John Passion with the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra and Daniel Reuss and St Matthew Passion with the Noord Nederlands Orkest and Hartmut Haenchen.

Recent concerts include Haydn’s Die Schöpfung with the Thomanerchor Leipzig; Evangelist Bach St John Passion with The English Concert and Antwerp Symphony Orchestra and Das Paradies und die Peri in Utrecht with the Netherlands Radio Philharmonic Orchestra.

Kieran made his recital debut at the Pierre Boulez Saal in Berlin in 2019 as part of the Heidelberger Frühling Schubert Week with Thomas Hampson and Hartmut Höll and in the same year was a finalist in the Wigmore Hall/Independent Opera International Song Competition, together with duo partner Richard Gowers. He recently performed a Schubert programme with Kristian Bezuidenhout at the 2024 MA Festival in Brugge and appeared at the Luxembourg Philharmonie with Graham Johnson. His connection to the Pierre Boulez Saal and Wigmore Hall continues with solo recitals in both halls, and, in addition, he has appeared at Wigmore Hall in a Hugo Wolf Song Gala with Christoph Prégardien and James Baillieu: sung Haydn canzonettas with András Schiff and Vaughan Williams Serenade to Music with the Nash Ensemble.

Kieran has taken part in a complete Brahms Lieder disc with Ulrich Eisenlohr on NAXOS and other recordings include Mozart’s Requiem with Il Gardellino; CPE Bach’s Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu; Wolf Italienisches Liederbuch and Schumann Dichterliebe with Ensemble Opus and Ralf Gothoni.

Kieran studied in Cologne with Christoph Prégardien before continuing his education at London’s Royal Academy of Music with Neil Mackie.

German Bass-Baritone Andreas Wolf is one of the most sought-after interpreters on the international opera and concert stages, especially in Baroque and Classical repertoire.

Highlights of the season 2024/25 include performances of Bach’s Messe in h-moll  under Leonardo Garcia Alarcon at Festival Bach Montréal, at Verbier Festival and with Sao Paulo Symphony, a tour with Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Ton Koopman performing Handel’s Esther in the Netherlands, Brussels and Budapest, Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium with Rundfunksinfonieorchester Berlin under Vladimir Jurowski as well as with Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Thomanerchor, Beethoven’s Symphony No 9 with Symfonieorkest Vlaanderen on a tour through the Netherlands, Belgium and in Paris, Bach’s Matthäuspassion with Noord Nederlands Orkest as well as several projects with Cappella Mediterranea and concerts with Les Arts Florissants and William Christie in Paris and Berlin.

Andreas Wolf has performed at major opera houses like Teatro Real Madrid, Semperoper Dresden, La Monnaie Brussels, Bayrische Staatsoper München, Bolshoi Theatre Moscow, Opera national du Rhin Strasbourg, Théâtre du Châtelet Paris, Grand Théâtre de Genève and  Oper Stuttgart as well as Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Bregenzer Festdpiele, Innsbrucker Festwochen, Wiener Festwochen and Festival de Beaune in roles such as Figaro/Le Nozze di Figaro, Leporello/Don Giovanni, Papageno/Die Zauberflöte, Guglielmo/Cosi fan tutte, Jupiter/Platée, Aeneas/Dido and Aeneas, Zuniga/Carmen, Orbazzano/Tancredi, Falke/Die Fledermaus, Nanni/L’infedelta delusa and Eremit/Der Freischütz.

His extensive concert repertoire includes the major works from Bach and Händel to Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert and Berlioz up to Igor Stravinsky and Frank Martin.

Andreas Wolf enjoys a particularly close collaboration with Leonardo Garcia Alarcon and Cappella Mediterranea as well as with Ton Koopman and Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra. Next to these he has worked with conductors such as René Jacobs, Andrea Marcon, Raphaël Pichon, Peter Dijkstra,  Jérémie Rhorer, Ivor Bolton, Ingo Metzmacher and Vasily Petrenko and ensembles like Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Orchestre National de Radio France, Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Gulbenkian Orchestra, Orquesta y Coro Nacionales de España, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic, Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Concerto Köln, RIAS Kammerchor, Collegium 1704, Le Concert Spirituel, La Cetra, Il Pomo d’Oro, Het Residentie Orkest, Concert de la Loge, MDR Sinfonieorchester and Hamburger Sinfoniker.

His discography includes C.P.E. Bach’s Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu with the Vlaams Radiokoor (Passacaille), Handel’s Semele with Leonardo García Alarcón (Ricercar), Bach’s Messe in h-moll with the Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks under Peter Dijkstra (BR Klassik), Berlioz’ Messe Solennelle and Händel’s Messias (Alpha), Händel’s Serse (Chaconne),  Johann Ludwig’s Trauermusik, Handel’s Ode for the Birthday of Queen Anne, both with Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and Bach cantatas with the Freiburger Barockorchester and Carolyn Sampson, all for Harmonia Mundi.

Vocalconsort Berlin is one of the most highly regarded and versatile vocal ensembles in Germany. Founded in 2003 Vocalconsort has no principal conductor, but is working instead on a project-by-project basis with various conductors, but also with long-term artistic partners such as Daniel Reuss, Folkert Uhde and Sasha
Waltz.

Vocalconsort Berlin is versatile in both instrumentation and repertoire, but always stylistically confident and of impressive homogeneity. It has enjoyed success in a wide variety of fields: from Monteverdi’s “L’Orfeo” under René Jacobs, Haydn’s “Four Seasons” under Christopher Moulds, Bernstein’s “A Quiet Place” under Kent Nagano and through to Peter Ruzicka’s “Inseln, Randlos” under the direction of the composer himself. Vocalconsort Berlin supported the opera choir on stage in Barrie Kosky’s production in Schönberg’s “Moses und Aron” under Vladimir Jurowski. The ensemble also plays an important role in many successful scenic productions by Sasha Waltz & Guests, such as “Dido & Aenes” by Purcell, “L’Orfeo” by Monteverdi, “Medea” by Dusapin and “Matsukaze” by Hosokawa.

CD recordings include Handel’s “Ode for Queen Anne” and “Dixit Dominus” with Andreas Scholl and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Handel’s “Athalia” with Nuria Real and the Kammerorchester Basel as well as Bach’s motets under Marcus Creed. Vocalconsort Berlin received the ECHO Klassik in 2013 for its recording of Gesualdo’s second book “Sacrae Cantiones” under James Wood.

In its own projects Vocalconsort Berlin likes to transcend the boundaries of classical genres and disciplines:
“Allegory of Desire” was created in collaboration with the Belgian ensemble Zefiro Torna and the Tunisian singer Ghalia Benali; “From Inside” combined works by Gesualdo and Giacinto Scelsi in a concert staged by Hans-Werner Kroesinger; “Libera Me” combines music by Lobo, Desprez and Gesualdo with contemporary
dance.

In the 2017/18 season, Vocalconsort Berlin made its debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker under Sir Simon Rattle in a semi-staged production of Janacek’s “Schlauen Füchslein”, which was directed by Peter Sellars. In recent years the collaboration with the Konzerthausorchester under the direction of Iván Fischer and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin under the direction of Vladimir Jurowski has intensified. The Komische Oper Berlin has been a close partner within the last years. On occasion of the 2019 Salzburg Festival Vocalconsort Berlin participated in “Orphée aux Enfers” by Offenbach, a highly acclaimed production of Barrie Kosky with the Vienna Philharmonic under Enrique Mazzola. The close cooperation has continued under the new directorship of Philip Bröking (as e.g. “Orfeo ed Euridice” by Gluck, “Intolleranza 1960” by Nono, both in 2022). In the beginning of 2023, the ensemble worked together with Moritz von Oswald, recording the choir version for his project “Silencio”, an album with purely electronic pieces.

Vocalconsort Berlin maintains a regular presence in the music metropolises and at the major festivals in Europe and overseas. It has worked with conductors such as Marcus Creed, Jos van Immerseel, Ottavio Dantone, Christophe Rousset, Pablo Heras-Casado and Peter Ruzicka.

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.