Choirs of the International Study Center
Camerata Carolina on tour!
From September 16 to 23, 2024, the Camerata Carolina will embark on a concert tour to Imperia, Sanremo and Montpellier. The Camerata Carolina has been preparing its program “European Choral Music from 6 Centuries and 7 Countries” since the beginning of the year and is very much looking forward to presenting this program in September.
The Camerata Carolina consists mainly of students and young researchers, for whom the trip represents a financial challenge. We have therefore launched a crowdfunding project through which you can directly support the choir on its journey and promote musical and cultural exchange.
European choral music from 6 centuries
Europe should be a unity of diversity - musically, it has been for a long time. With its program “European Choral Music from 6 Centuries”, the Camerata Carolina demonstrates this in its concert on Sunday, June 30, 2024 in the Peterskirche Heidelberg.
The works presented range from Gregorian chant to the 21st century. Well-known names - Bach, Bellini, Fauré, Soler, Stanford, Verdi - are represented with impressive compositions, but we have also selected lesser-known gems. The most recent work is Valentin Silvestrov's “Prayer for Ukraine” for twelve-part choir, which he wrote in 2014 to mark the uprising on Maidan Square in Kijiv. We consciously include this brave country in European music. The Camerata intensively cultivates the high art of a cappella singing and is regularly praised by audiences and the press for its transparent and warm choral sound. It will continue its frequent travels this year: it will present this program in Italy (Liguria) and France (Montpellier).
Puccini's youthful masterstroke
Giacomo Puccini (1858-1924) should actually have taken on a position that his ancestors had held for four generations in succession: that of music director and cathedral conductor in his home town of Lucca. He received a thorough education in church music at the local conservatory, but then turned his attention to opera, which promised great fame in the 19th century and which he enjoyed in abundance. He wrote the great “Messa di Gloria” as his final work at the conservatory, which clearly demonstrated his genius but was soon forgotten behind his operas. With this mass, which already clearly shows the opera composer, a motet in honor of the patron saint of Lucca, San Paolino, was also premiered on June 12, 1880, which only came to light again a quarter of a century ago - a select rarity.
On Saturday, July 13, 2024, 8 pm, this fascinating, opulent music can be heard in the Peterskirche in Heidelberg with the Capella Carolina.
You are looking for a choir in Heidelberg?
We, Capella and Camerata Carolina, are two choirs of the International Study Center and are very happy to welcome new people to our choir community!
Rehearsals will begin even before the start of the lecture period. If you are interested in joining the large choir Capella Carolina, keep March 14, 7:15 pm free! At this time, the first group audition of the new semester will take place in the Chemistry lecture hall (INF 252)! Immediately afterwards, we will start our joint rehearsal at 8 pm.
In summer semester 2024, Puccini's Motetto di San Paolino and his Messa di Gloria are on the program. Our concerts will take place in July 2024, one in Heidelberg (Universitätskirche St. Peter) and one in the Eglise Abbatiale d'Ebersmunster near Séléstat in Alsace!
Admission to Capella Carolina is possible until May 2nd at the latest. For this purpose, a group audition takes place before every Thursday rehearsal at 7:15 pm. We rehearse every Thursday from 8 pm to 10 pm in the large chemistry lecture hall (INF 252), and will also spend a rehearsal weekend in Baden-Baden on June 15/16.
On Thursday, March 21 and March 28 there is no reherasal!
For those who already have some choir experience and very good vocal and musical skills, there is also the possibility to directly join our chamber choir Camerata Carolina. Camerata Carolina rehearses continuously (even during semester break!) every Tuesday from 8 to 10 pm in the basement hall of Max-Weber-Haus, ISZ, Ziegelhäuser Landstraße 17.
This semester, Camerata Carolina will be working on two different projects: J.S. Bach Mass in B minor and European choral music from six centuries. The choir is not only rehearsing for two concerts in Heidelberg in June and December 2024, but also for a concert tour to Italy and France in September 2024!
Auditions with the conductor Prof. Franz Wassermann are required after prior arrangement by email.
Capella Carolina presented Brahms: Ein Deutsches Requiem
On January 28, 2024, 5 pm, Capella Carolina presented Johannes Brahms' "Ein Deutsches Requiem" under the direction of Franz Wassermann in the University Church of St. Peter in Heidelberg. We were accompanied by the Camerata Viva Tübingen orchestra and Friederike Beykirch (soprano) and Markus Lemke (bass-baritone).
Further information on the concert (in German)
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WILLKOMMEN WELCOME BIENVENUE BENEVENUDO
Our choir is composed of mainly students and is open to all people who are musically inclined and who enjoy singing in an open, international, concentrated yet relaxed atmosphere. As choirs of the "Internationales Studienzentrum" at Heidelberg University, it is very important for us to have international students feel welcome during our choir rehearsals, performances and celebrations. The “Camerata Carolina”, the prize-winning chamber choir of the university, welcomes new members with choir experience and very good vocal and musical qualifications. We also have a small troupe, the GSG9, which performs at private parties, company events and university galas. The music repertoire ranges from contemplative sacred to lively secular.
