Opening Concert of the 94th Bach Festival of the Neue Bachgesellschaft e.V.
Figuralchor of St. John’s Church Rostock
Programme
Johann Sebastian Bach:
Cantata „Wir müssen durch viel Trübsal“ BWV 146
Antonín Dvorák:
Stabat Mater op. 58
Performers
Okka von der Damerau, contralto →
Jörg Dürmüller, tenor →
Tobias Berndt, bass →
Allhelgona Motettkör Lund (Sweden) →
Figuralchor of St. John’s Church Rostock →
Rostock motet choir →
Frank Dittmer, organ
Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock →
Markus Johannes Langer, conductor →
Organizer
Bachverein Rostock e. V.
Julia Sophie Wagner
Biography
Julia Sophie Wagner studied voice at the universities of music in Weimar and Leipzig and at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She is famed for her interpretations of Johann Sebastian Bach’s oratorios but has also added the great classical and romantic oratorios to her repertoire in recent years. She has been singing in important venues throughout Europe and North America. Her debut in the Kennedy Center Washington, where she sang Beethoven’s “Missa Solemnis”, was chosen by the Washington Life Magazine as “Kennedy Center Event of the Year 2014”.
Jörg Dürmüller
Biography
The Swiss tenor Jörg Dürmüller studied violin and voice at the conservatory of Winterthur and the University of Music and Performing Arts Hamburg. He has been working in concert and opera under Riccardo Chailly, Christoph Eschenbach, Christopher Hogwood and Bruno Weil, among others. Jörg Dürmüller is a renowned interpreter of the evangelist parts of J. S. Bach’s works. In 2007 his interpretation of the Carlo in Krenek’s opera “Sardakai” won him an ECHO Klassik award. He has been teaching since 2010 at the University for Music Lausanne HEMU in Switzerland.
Tobias Berndt
Biography
The baritone Tobias Berndt received his first musical education as a member of the famous Dresdner Kreuzchor. He went on to study in Leipzig and Mannheim with tuition from Hermann Christian Polster and Rudolf Piernay and was also coached by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Thomas Quasthoff. He has repeatedly won prizes and scholarship at major international competitions. Tobias Berndt is a renowned singer for opera, concert and Lied and sings regularly at Europe’s great concert venues, as well as touring the Americas, South Africa, Russia, Japan and China.
Allhelgona Motettkören Lund (Sweden)
Biography
The motet choir of the All Saint’s Church of Lund (Sweden) was founded in 2002 but had its first concert in Stralsund, just 80 kilometres from Rostock. The Choir often performs during service but has also been singing many concerts both in and outside Sweden and has been participating in a number of radio and television broadcasts. Their repertoire includes music of all epochs, from Palestrina’s “Missa Papae Marcellus” and Bach’s Passions all the way to the works of contemporary composers such as Arvo Pärt and John Taverner. The choir’s conductor is Johan-Magnus Sjöberg.
Figuralchor of St. John’s Church Rostock
Biography
Counting around 110 singers, the Figuralchor is the largest choir of St. John’s Church Rostock. Since its foundation in 1962, the choir regularly sings during service, but the big oratorios are the most important focus for the choir. Collaborating with renowned soloists and various orchestras, the choir has staged Johann Sebastian Bach’s Passions and his Christmas Oratorio, masses by Mozart, Rossini, Haydn, Kodály and Schubert over the years, as well as works by Brahms, Dvořák, Strawinsky, Britten, Honegger and Szymanowski among others.
Rostocker Motettenchor
Biography
Founded in 1964 by Hartwig Eschenbach, the Rostock Mottentenchor has sung in East Germany’s most important venues, such as Dresden Frauenkirche, St. Thomas Church and Gewandhaus Leipzig, or Konzerthaus Berlin. After 1990, the choir toured several European countries as well as the US to participate in the 1995 Oregon Bach Festival, where the choir took part in a staging of Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem”. Their widespread repertoire includes a-cappella and oratorio music from Heinrich Schütz up to Arvo Pärt. Since 2012, there have been collaborations with the King Singers on several occasions.
Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock
Biography
The formation of the Municipal and Theatre Orchestra Rostock in 1897 lay the foundations of the orchestra that is today the largest in the state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania. It offers a broad variety of concerts, such as philharmonic concerts, “Classic-Light” concerts, chamber orchestra concerts, special concerts for a younger audience and various offers to make young people familiar with classical music. The Norddeutsche Philharmonie has been playing in a large number of cities both in and outside Germany and has been recording film music as a member of the European FilmPhilharmonie.
Markus Johannes Langer
Biography
Already before he left school, Markus Langer studied organ with tuition from Hedwig Bilgram in Munich. He subsequently studied evangelical church music and choral conducting at the same university. He was cantor of Laudatekirche, Munich until 1999. Since 2000, he is church musician of Rostock’s St. John’s Church, where he leads one of Northern Germany’s largest church music department, counting around 400 musicians. He has been teaching choral conducting and interpretation oratorio at the University of Music and Performing Arts Rostock since 2000. He was appointed Kirchenmusikdirektor in 2009.
Okka von der Damerau
Biography
Born in Hamburg, the mezzosoprano Okka von der Damerau studied in Rostock, Stuttgart and Freiburg. She devotes herself to Lied-singing but does regularly sing leading roles in big opera productions as well. She has been singing amongst others at the Bayreuth Festival, La Scala in Milan, the Chicago Lyric Opera and at the Semperoper Dresden under conductors like Daniel Barenboim, Kirill Petrenko and Kent Nagano. From 2006 to 2010, Okka von der Damerau was a member of the ensemble of the Hanover State Opera, since 2010 she is a member of the ensemble of the Bavarian State Opera, Munich.