MDR-Rundfunkchor

The MDR Radio Choir is the radio choir with the longest tradition in public broadcasting in Germany and, with 73 singers, the largest. It was founded in 1924, exactly 100 years ago, operated as the Leipzig Radio Choir after 1945, and has carried its current name since 1992. The German conductor Philipp Ahmann has been 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 include the MDR Symphony Orchestra and its Chief Conductor Dennis Russell Davies. The repertoire of the choir, which also performs a cappella concerts, spans almost a millennium of music history and includes both sacred and secular works. Nearly 250 recordings document its artistic work. In 2013, the MDR Radio Choir was awarded the European Culture Prize.

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

August 2024