RIAS Kammerchor
The voices of Berlin
One of the best choirs in the world. The RIAS Kammerchor sings music old and new and always offers a fine listening experience.
The RIAS Kammerchor is one of the ten best choirs in the world, at least according to the important music magazine gramophone. You're sure to agree after catching one of their performances.
Entirely new sounds
The RIAS Kammerchor is made up 35 singers who perform a wide variety of repertoire. They perform works from the Renaissance, Baroque, and Romantic periods using historical performance practises that makes these pieces suddenly sound new and fresh. At the same time, they are dedicated to performing contemporary pieces of vocal music, often performing world premières for their appreciative audiences. The chorus does not have its own concert hall, but instead performs at different locations around the city.
The Forum Concerts
At the forum concerts put on by the RIAS Kammerchor, individual singers or the entire chorus perform in unusual places around the city. Past venues have included waterworks, an anatomy lecture hall, district court buildings, and electric substations, in each instance creating an exciting dialogue between the architecture of the space and the music.
A radio past and a concert present: a chorus in transition
RIAS Kammerchor was founded in 1948 as the chorus for "Radio in the American Sector". Performances of world première pieces by Boris Blacher, Mauricio Kagel, Milko Kelemen, Ernst Krenek, Witold Lutoslawski, Krzysztof Penderecki, and Aribert Reimann cemented the chorus' reputation as a leading ensemble of contemporary music. The artistic director has been Hans-Christoph Rademann since 2007. Justin Doyle is his designated successor and will take the baton from the 2017-18 season.
Originally, the RIAS Kammerchor only performed on the radio and did not perform live in concert, but the vocal ensemble is now a concert choir that performs in numerous guest performances at home and abroad. The RIAS Kammerchor is under the umbrella of Rundfunk-Orchester und -Chöre gGmbH Berlin.
Information for school groups
The RIAS Kammerchor offers numerous opportunities for the education for young people on, including the series Students in Concert with concert introductions.
