Multinational Chamber Choir in Austria
Planned in 1991 and actually launched in the summer of 1992, the "Multinational Chamber Choir in Austria" in its 10 years of existence provided a quite unique concept and repertoire for the accepted applicants: It united individual singers from a variety of countries of the world, among them Albania and Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, Brazil and Australia, Slovenia and the Slovaque Republic, Austria and the Czech Republic, Romania and Estonia, the Ukraine and Sweden, to name but a few, for rehearsals, personal exchange, concerts, and recording sessions in Austria.
The "Multinational Chamber Choir in Austria" was founded in the hope that the project can be a help towards the goal of better understanding between people(s) from different backgrounds through their common interest in music. As a first step, this was meant to happen between the chosen singers, but next to that, we see the invited participants also as a "sign" to the local audience in our performances as well as to those who get to buy one of our tapes or CDs - and reality showed that the concept worked!
We decided for a working place that was beautiful and unusual at the same time
- a mountain hut in the altitude of 1700 metres above sea level in the current
state of the meeting, where one finds clean air, absolute quietness, clear water,
a phantastic view, and more. Since the nearest neighbouring hut is about half an
hour on foot from "ours", we are entirely on our own, and thus can very intensely
devote a small period of time in our lives to each other and - most important - to
our common music-making. The results so far were amazing; nine tapes and two CDs
recorded by the various former chosen teams and several concert performances each and
every summer are a proof of that.
And let us not forget the often long-lasting
intense personal friendships that originated in a common mountain experience in one or
the other summer...!
Through these multinational meetings, usually made up from interested and qualified newcomers as well as returning "old friends" who helped to secure the continuing artistic level of the meeting, new friendships were founded and a lot of international networking was successfully done. We produced a total of eleven documentary audio recordings so far, and thus our work reached quite many groups and the overall idea and philosophy as well as parts of the repertoire spread with the singers going back to their home-countries.
Among the very positive results on our end (Vienna, Austria) there are two multinational "offshoots" of the summer encounters so far: The transformation of our very own vocal ensemble "Mosaik" into a bi-national group on one hand, which for us has been enormously enriching, and the launching of a new project, "Early Music Days Vienna", having met several times a year since the beginning of 2000 so far, in its various setups (depending on the project at hand), on the other.
| Cooke Josquin Desprez (ca. 1440 - 1521) Jakob Obrecht (ca. 1450 - 1505) Jacobus Gallus (1550 - 1591) William Byrd (1543 - 1623) Johann Rudolf Ahle (1625 - 1673) Henry Purcell (1659 - 1695) Johann Christoph Bach (1642 - 1703) Johann Ludwig Bach (1677 - 1731) Dmitrij Bortnjanski (1775 - 1825) Albert Becker (1834 - 1899) Edward Elgar (1857 - 1934) Nikolai Kedrov (1871 - 1954) Christopher Marshall, * 1956 Hermann Platzer, * 1960 Manfred Novak, *1977 |
Stella celi In pace et in idipsum Alleluja (Fuga à 4) Pater Noster Sing joyfully unto God Gott, der Vater, steh uns bei Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts Der Mensch, vom Weibe geboren Unsere Trübsal Tebje Pojem Komm, Heiliger Geist As torrents in summer Pater Noster The Desert Shall Blossom Dass wir vollströmen mit Lebensatem (Kanon à 5) Irischer Friedenswunsch |
| Gilles Binchois (um 1400 - 1467) Claude de Sermisy (ca. 1490 - 1562) Claude le Jeune (1528 - ca. 1600) Oswald von Wolkenstein (1377 - 1445) Hans Leo Hassler (1564 - 1612) Thomas Weelkes (1576 - 1623) John Dowland (1562 - 1626) Giaches de Wert (1535 - 1596) Luca Marenzio (1553 - 1599) Alonso Carlos Patino (1600 - 1675) |
Filles à marier Si vous m' aimez O Rose, reine des fleurs Herr Wirt, uns dürstet allso sehre Ich brinn/Erwiderung Lady, your eye Weep you no more, sad fountains M' ha punt' Amor Scendi dal Paradiso Venere Guardaos d'estas pitofleras Pastorcillo triste |
| Miguel Matamoros, arr.: Electo Silva Malay Folksong Spiritual, trad. Arrangement Spritual, arr. Hermann Platzer Spritual, arr. Paul van Hippel Traditional, arr. Manfred Novak Traditional, arr. Hermann Platzer Scott Joplin (1868 - 1917) African Traditional South African Traditional M. Fischer, arr.: Emerson Manhattan Transfer |
Son de la loma Suriram I Want Jesus to Walk With Me Wade in the Water Live A-Humble I Once Loved a Boy Linstead Market Reggae Aunt Dinah Has Blowed the Horn Kwa-heri Shosholoza When Sunny Gets Blue Java Jive |
The Multinational Chamber Choir is currently "on hold", since the center group decided to solely focus on the offspring project "Early Music Days Vienna" instead for some while. Nevertheless, there may be another follow-up session planned in the future should enough interest be generated in the international choral community. So, if you would like to be selected a member for an upcoming possible session of the project, by all means, do go ahead and let me know!
For now you are invited to make your interest in being selected for a coming team session known in the following way: Do get in touch via the email channel, telling of your in principle interest in the meeting and including a paragraph of approx. 20 lines in English explaining why you would like to join an upcoming session of the "Multinational Chamber Choir in Austria". Together with this send your musical CV and your personal information (name, address, email address, telephone contact number, application for which voice spot?, date of birth, nationality, reference(s), information on your preferred type(s) of choral music, anything else along these lines that you would like to share). In case of any questions, do not hesitate to contact us.