Arnold Schoenberg Choir

The Arnold Schoenberg Chor is a Viennese/Austrian choir which was founded 1972 by Erwin Ortner, who is still its artistic director. The choir has a high reputation both among conductors and among critics and the musical scene in general. All members of the choir have broad experience and expertise in vocal music; all of them are have graduated from or are currently studying at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts. The choir is named after Viennese composer Arnold Schoenberg.

Repertoire

The choir's repertoire covers the whole range from Renaissance to contemporary music, from "a cappella" works to large orchestral pieces and operas, and it has worked with famous conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Riccardo Muti and Lorin Maazel - to name only a few. Moreover the choir has performed on opera productions such as Schubert's "Fierrabras" at the Vienna State Opera, Messiaen's "Saint Francois d'Assise" at the Salzburg Festival and videos of three operas of Mozart with the producer Peter Sellars.

The Arnold Schoenberg Chor has had a close working relationship with Nikolaus Harnoncourt for more than 20 years. During this period they have performed and recorded such pieces as Bach's Mass in B minor, Monteverdi's Vespers, Haydn's The Creation and Seasons, Beethoven's "Missa Solemnis" and Ninth Symphony. They also cooperated in operas like Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas", Handel's "Samson", and Beethoven's Fidelio. [ [http://www.cduniverse.com/classical.asp?ensemble=Arnold+Schoenberg+Choir Discography] .]

Activities

Frequent concert tours from a constituent part of the choir's musical life. The choir has appeared at festivals like the Salzburg Festival, Carinthian Summer, Styriarte Graz, the Wiener Festwochen and Wien Modern for years.

In 1996, the choir, conducted by its Chorus Master Erwin Ortner, recorded Schubert's complete secular choral works for Teldec on 7 CDs. This recording won the "Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik" in Germany, the "Diapason d'or" in France, the "Prix Caecilia" in Belgium and the "Grand Prize of the Academy Awards" 1997 in Japan.

Awards

In 1994, the Arnold Schoenberg Chor received the Classical Music Award as best choir of the year. In 2002 the Schoenberg choir, jointly with instrumentalists and soloists, received a Grammy Award in the category Best Choral Performance for its recording of Bach's "St Matthew Passion", conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

References

ources

* [http://www.asc.at Official site]
* [http://www.bach-cantatas.com/Bio/ASC.htm Short overview of the choir] , by Aryeh Oron, August 2001
* [http://music.guardian.co.uk/classical/reviews/story/0,,2135530,00.html Review] in The Guardian