GewandhausChor

The GewandhausChor, which was founded in 1861 by the music director of the Gewandhaus at the time, Carl Reinecke, is closely associated with the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig. This semi-professional ensemble, which currently comprises some 50 singers, participates in vocal-symphonic concerts with the Orchestra and, in addition, offers its own program of a cappella concerts featuring works from the Renaissance to the present and performs with other renowned ensembles. From Carl Reinecke through Arthur Nikisch, Franz Konwitschny, and Hermann Abendroth to Kurt Masur, Herbert Blomstedt, and Riccardo Chailly, all of the Gewandhaus music directors have worked with the GewandhausChor. So, too, have the Leipzig Thomas cantors Karl Straube, Günther Ramin, Kurt Thomas, Erhard Mauersberger, and Georg Christoph Biller, who himself previously led the GewandhausChor (from 1980 to 1991). Since 2007 the church musician, organist, and pianist Gregor Meyer, who was born in 1979 in Zwickau, has helmed the ensemble; Meyer is also the founder and leader of the Leipzig Vocalconsort and teaches at the Music Academy of the fair-trade city. 

LUCERNE FESTIVAL debut on 13 September 2005 in a program of works by Felix Mendelssohn (including the Lobgesang) conducted by Riccardo Chailly.

August 2014