Kearsney College Choir

Stockholm Mass Choir

Stockholm’s most swinging large choir – with 500 singers – presents a gospel concert at Konserthuset Stockholm for the first time. This massive ensemble is led by Cedwin Sandanam, the choir director behind Tensta Gospel Choir. Experience the magnificent sensation of so many voices performing swinging gospel songs, both traditional and modern.Also behind Sthlm Mass Choir is Sabina Valois, producer and assistant choir director; Sara Brannäs, assistant choir director; and Jonathan Waldenfrid, conductor. All three have leadership roles with Tensta Gospel Choir. The concept behind this choir was to create a space for beginners and experienced singers alike to participate in the feel, rhythm and swing that made Tensta Gospel Choir the most popular gospel choir in Sweden.Founded in January 2023, Sthlm Mass Choir has already given acclaimed concerts at Berwaldhallen and Filadelfia Convention Center. The choir now comes to Konserthuset Stockholm to perform two concerts filled with swing, rhythm and emotion.

Stockholm Mass Choir

Stockholm’s most swinging large choir – with 500 singers – presents a gospel concert at Konserthuset Stockholm for the first time. This massive ensemble is led by Cedwin Sandanam, the choir director behind Tensta Gospel Choir. Experience the magnificent sensation of so many voices performing swinging gospel songs, both traditional and modern.Also behind Sthlm Mass Choir is Sabina Valois, producer and assistant choir director; Sara Brannäs, assistant choir director; and Jonathan Waldenfrid, conductor. All three have leadership roles with Tensta Gospel Choir. The concept behind this choir was to create a space for beginners and experienced singers alike to participate in the feel, rhythm and swing that made Tensta Gospel Choir the most popular gospel choir in Sweden.Founded in January 2023, Sthlm Mass Choir has already given acclaimed concerts at Berwaldhallen and Filadelfia Convention Center. The choir now comes to Konserthuset Stockholm to perform two concerts filled with swing, rhythm and emotion.

Popup Choir: Oasis

Soweto Gospel Choir

The Soweto Gospel Choir is one of the world’s most famous gospel choirs. It has won three Grammys and performed with U2, Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Beyoncé and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. But when the South African singers step onto the stage and unleash their powerful voices, all that becomes trivial. Because in those moments, the choir is focused only on its mission, one that has remained constant ever since its founding in 2003: »Spreading joy«. And it usually takes only a few bars for the audience to feel the effect. The choir was formed 20 years ago in Soweto, the South West Townships of Johannesburg in which Nelson Mandela lived, and from which he inspired the South African freedom movement. Since 2003, the Soweto Gospel Choir has performed at historic ceremonies in democratic South Africa, including Nelson Mandela’s state funeral in 2013. Today, the choir tours the world giving concerts and as ambassadors of Mandela’s foundation. As part of the »André Heller Reflektor«, the choir is now coming to the Elbphilharmonie Grand Hall to perform familiar hits by Curtis Mayfield, Marvin Gaye and Otis Redding, as well as gospel songs written by pop legends such as Bob Dylan, Whitney Houston and Prince. One of the things that make the choir’s concerts so special is their translations of songs into some of South Africa’s twelve official languages. Leonard Cohen’s famous »Hallelujah« is just as powerful when sung in Sotho and Zulu – as anyone who has heard the Soweto Gospel Choir’s version will attest.

Popup Choir: Aretha Franklin

Choir Concert: Figure humaine

The 2024 Hamburg International Music Festival is dedicated to Sofia Gubaidulina, one of the leading composers of the modern age. She was awarded the Praemium Imperiale art prize in 1998, and the Polar Music Prize in 2002. The work of the Russian-Tatar composer, who has been living near Hamburg for decades, is almost always inspired by poetry. She draws on a diverse range of sources, from the ancient Egyptians to contemporary poets. In 1997, Gubaidulina set one of the earliest pieces of Italian literature – Saint Francis of Assisi’s 13th century »Canticle of the Sun«, a song of praise for the creation – to music, for the unusual combination of cello, choir and percussion. Chorwerk Ruhr, one of Germany’s best choirs, is coming to Hamburg to perform the piece, and the solo part is played by the French star cellist Jean-Guihen Queyras. Francis Poulenc’s 1943 choral work »Figure humaine« follows in the second half of the concert. The polyphonic cantata, which is based on a poem by Paul Éluard, is pervaded by human tragedies of violence and hate, and opens into an ode to freedom.

Bundesjugendorchester / World Youth Choir / Tan Dun

Tan Dun is considered one of the most impressive and influential composers of our time – a crossover artist who combines classical and modern elements in his music and creates a connection between East and West. His work »Choral Concerto: Nine«, inspired by Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and composed to mark the 250th anniversary of his birth in 2020, now celebrates its German premiere at the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival.

Balthasar Neumann Choir & Orchestra / Thomas Hengelbrock

Coincidence or fate? No other work in music history allows this question to be discussed as emotionally as Mozart’s unfinished Requiem. Mozart died at the age of just 35 while composing the requiem mass – what sounds like the stuff of a great tragedy is a reality. But despite all the legends, one thing remains above all: Mozart’s music, which is probably one of the most moving settings of the liturgical requiem text. The wrath of God, human grief, fear and hope – Thomas Hengelbrock and his ensembles are exactly the right cast to bring all the emotions of the music to the stage. Hengelbrock precedes the famous dirge with the early Bach cantata »Christ lag in Todesbanden«. The composer was probably applying for his first organist’s post with this cantata and proves that he had mastered all the rules of the art. Following the old form of the choral cantata, the choir takes centre stage and sings movingly and powerfully about the resurrection of Jesus at Easter. In the version from 1724, Bach added a cornett and three trombones to the orchestra, providing even more goosebump-inducing moments. Death and resurrection – these central themes of Christianity are perfectly suited to the time around the last Sunday before Advent (Sunday in commemoration of the dead) at the end of November. On period instruments and with their characteristic tonal fusion between choir and orchestra, the Balthasar Neumann Choir and Orchestra, complemented by outstanding vocal soloists for Mozart’s Requiem, trace the spirituality of the overwhelming music.

Monteverdi Choir / English Baroque Soloists / Peter Whelan

The Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists present »Israel in Egypt«, one of George Frideric Handel’s most famous oratorios. The key protagonist is not a solo part, but the choir that represents the long-suffering Israelites. Luckily, the Monteverdi Choir is one of the best in the world – and an emotionally moving and musically formidable concert evening is in store. Next to his ubiquitous »Messiah«, Handel’s 24 other oratorios don’t have it easy, although »Israel in Egypt« is relatively well known. Which is no wonder considering how Handel packaged the story of the enslaved Israelites’ exodus from ancient Egypt as a musical crime drama. Although originally conceived for the concert hall, the oratorio is so full of drama that it is also regularly performed on the operatic stage.

The Bach Choir and Orchestra: Mozart's Requiem

The Concertgebouw’s famous Main Hall is one of the best concert halls in the world, well-known for its exceptional acoustics and special atmosphere. In the Main Hall, you will feel history. Here, Gustav Mahler conducted his own compositions, as did Richard Strauss and Igor Stravinsky. Sergei Rachmaninoff played his own piano concertos in the Main Hall. This is also where musicians such as Leonard Bernstein, Vladimir Horowitz and Yehudi Menuhin gave legendary performances. Right up to now, the Main Hall offers a stage to the world’s best orchestras and musicians. Buy your tickets now and experience the magic of the Main Hall for yourself!