The acclaimed Kölner Kantorei of Cologne, Germany, specializes in demanding chiefly a cappella choral works of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.  This choir of mainly nonprofessional singers relies on breath, voice, and body training (from both its director and members knowledgeable in these disciplines) to achieve its highly praised performance quality.

The foundation of their rehearsal technique is each individual choir member's diligent study of the music, which allows essential details to be perfected during the ensemble's ten ,,Projekt-Wochenende" (weekend rehearsal retreats) each year. The Kantorei's ability to quickly learn new works continues to attract young singers with choral experience.

The Kölner Kantorei has recently begun focusing on works connected by a particular theme, e.g., its programs of European sacred music following the form of a Mass, or Psalm settings of the Romantic period and the twentieth century. The choir is also part of a regional consortium of eight other choruses in Cologne that cooperate to produce the Kölner Chor-Konzerte (Cologne Choral Concerts) in the city's Philharmonic Hall.

The choir tours not only different regions of Germany but also other countries of Europe, with emphasis on Eastern Europe, and Israel. Because of several tours in former Eastern Block countries (e.g., Poland in 1982 and 1995, Romania in 1990), the Kölner Kantorei has achieved a reputation as a musical ambassador. In November 1998 it received first prize in the Polyphonic Division of the 3Oth International Choral Competition in Tolosa, Spain. Thanks to support from the Deutscher Musikrat (German Music Council), the Kölner Kantorei has been able to undertake a first-ever concert tour of the U.S.A. in 1999, coinciding with ceremonies honoring the tenth anniversary of the Berlin Wall's fall and the fiftieth year of the Federal Republic of Germany.

VOLKER HEMPFLING

conductor

Professor Volker Hempfling was born in Saarland, Germany, in 1944 and studied in Herford and Cologne (church music, Organ, orchestral conducting, voice). From 1972 to 1985 he was organist and choir director of the Lutheran Church, in Altenberg, North Rhine-Westphalia, as weIl as director of the ,,Sacred Music” series at Altenberg's cathedral.

In 1968 at Altenberg, as director of church music and the Cathedral's choir, Hempfling founded the Kölner Kantorei, specializing in a cappella music of the Romantic and modern periods. With both choirs he has given performances in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Hungary, Romania, Poland, Sweden, and Israel. In 1983 he became director of Cologne's Gürzenich-Chor. For the centennial of Swiss composer Frank Martin's birth in 1990, Professor Hempfling and all three choirs presented a series of eight concerts devoted exclusively to Martin's music, induding his Golgotha, Requiem, In terra pax, and Mass.

In 1984-85 Hempfling was recipient of a Deutscher Musikrat fellowship for work with conductor Wolfgang Sawallisch and composer Krzysztof Penderecki. In addition to guest conducting appearances in Germany and elsewhere (e.g., Europa Cantat), he has taught courses in conducting and voice development in Germany, Switzerland, Beiglum, Austria, Slovenia, Spain, and the United States.

His activities as a juror at national and international competitions have taken him to Cologne, Darmstadt, Giessen, Regensburg, Marktoberdorf, Budapest, and Vilnius. In 1985 he was appointed to the Musikhochschule (conservatory) of Saarland. Since 1993 he has been professor of choral conducting and director of the Protestant Church Music division. He also conducts the chamber chorus of the Robert Schumann-Hochschule in Düsseldorf.

translated by B.C. Maclntyre (1999)