MDR-Rundfunkchor

The history of the MDR Radio Choir dates back to 1924, when the Leipzig Oratorio Association, as it was then known, performed in a broadcast by Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (Central German Radio). It is thus the choir with the longest tradition in public broadcasting in Germany, and today, with 73 singers, remains the largest of its kind. After World War II, it initially operated under the name Leipziger Rundfunkchor and has gone by its current name since 1992. The German conductor Philipp Ahmann has served as Artistic Director since 2020. The ensemble performs with major orchestras and has appeared under Claudio Abbado, Daniel Barenboim, Bernard Haitink, Herbert von Karajan, Kurt Masur, and Sir Simon Rattle. Regular partners are the MDR Symphony Orchestra and its head Dennis Russell Davies; in the 2022-23 season, concerts were also scheduled with the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra and Andris Nelsons, the Dresden Philharmonic under Marek Janowski, and the Frankfurt Radio Symphony with Alain Altinoglu. The MDR Radio Choir appears not only in orchestral concerts but in a cappella projects as well. Its repertoire spans almost a millennium of music history, from medieval chants to world premieres, and includes both sacred and secular works. Nearly 250 records and CDs, many of which have won awards, have been recorded by the choir. The most recent release, from 2021, is a recording of motets by Anton Bruckner and Michael Haydn under the direction of Philipp Ahmann. The MDR Radio Choir was awarded the European Culture Prize in 2013.

Lucerne Festival debut on 13 September 2006 in a performance of Schoenberg’s Gurre-Lieder under Michael Gielen.

March 2023.