Ad cor – to the heart
Sunday 30 March, 14:00
(Doors open at 13:15)
Oslo Cathedral
Adult: 400 NOK
Senior/student: 300 NOK
Child: 50 NOK
Duration: 1 hour
Staats- und Domchor Berlin
Kai-Uwe Jirka, conductor
World-class boys’ choir
The excellent boys’ choir Staats- und Domchor Berlin invites us to a concert with selected pieces from their core repertoire. Under the heading Ad cor – to the heart, they gather works from their own music archive – Archiv der Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, with funeral cantatas by, among others, Buxtehude, Lewandowski, and Mendelssohn-Bartholdy. Staats- und Domchor Berlin is one of the most acclaimed boys’ choirs in Europe, and is joined by the musicians Birgit Schnurpfeil (violin) and Wassim Mukdad (oud). Together with the choir, they will give the audience a gripping concert experience.
Staats- und Domchor Berlin has roots back to the middle of the 15th century, and is one of the most acclaimed boys’ choirs in Europe, as well as Berlin’s oldest musical institution. It was under the artistic direction of Felix Mendelssohn-Barholdy that the choir became internationally known. The choir’s repertoire consists of an expansive selection of both sacred and secular choral works, stretching from the Renaissance until present times. The choir is currently conducted by Kai-Uwe Jirka.
Kai-Uwe Jirka is one of Germany’s leading choir conductors, and has since 2002 been a professor in choir direction and conductor for Staats- und Domchor Berlin at Universität der Künste Berlin. He is also the artistic director of Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, who is considered to be the oldest mixed choir in the world. In collaboration with Lautten Compagney, he has directed premieres of works from the 16th century, brought back from oblivion from the archives of Sing-Akademie. Another central part of Jirka’s work is his passion for contemporary music. In the last couple of years, he has conducted premieres of works by contemporary composers such as Luke Bedford, Jörg Birkenkötter, Michael Wertmüller, Christfried Schmidt, and Katia Tchemberdji.
Photo: SDC: Johannes Jost, SDC: Matthias Heyde, Kai-Uwe Jirka: Udo Siegfriedt
