Ernst Senff Chor Berlin
The Ernst Senff Chor Berlin or Ernst Senff Choir of Berlin is a frequent collaborator in choral works with Berlin's top symphonic ensembles. The choir was formed in 1966 as the Kammerchor Ernst Senff (Ernst Senff Chamber Choir) by Senff, a professor at the Hochschule für Musik in West Berlin. It gave its first on-air concert a year later on the Sender Freies Berlin radio network, and by 1968 was performing with the Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra. The choir grew in size in the 1970s, enabling it to take on full-scale symphonic repertory, and it sometimes even performed as the Verstärkter Kammerchor Ernst Senff (the "Strengthened Ernest Senff Chamber Choir"). Among these larger performances was one in 1987 of Klaus Wüsthoff's Berlin: Himmel und Hölle (Berlin: Heaven and Hell), an eight-part work in which the choir joined the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. Senff remained the choir's director until 1990, when he resigned for personal reasons and was replaced by Sigurd Brauns. The group registered itself at that point under its modern name.
The scope of the choir's performances continued to grow in the 1990s, with concert collaborations with the Berlin Symphony and Berlin Radio Symphony in 1991, an appearance in Israel with the Staatskapelle Weimar in Orff's Carmina Burana in 1994, and one with Simon Rattle's Berlin Philharmonic in 1999. The choir's performances under its own aegis have been less frequent, beginning in 2000 with a commemorative concert for Senff that included some of Senff's own compositions. The Ernst Senff Chor performed in unearthed film scores by Prokofiev in 2003 and later released a CD of the music. The choir increasingly began to attract guest conductors in the mid-2000s decade, with Ud Joffe taking the baton in 2008 for a concert of music by Paul Ben-Haim commemorating the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht. In 2009 the choir opened the Leipzig Bach Days with a performance of Mendelssohn's oratorio Elias.
The music director of the Ernst Senff Chor since 2009 has been Steffen Schubert. The group has made several more recordings, including, in 2018, one of the Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution, Op. 74.
© James Manheim /TiVo
Discography
5 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
-
Prokofiev: Cantata for the 20th Anniversary of the October Revolution
Ernst Senff Chor Berlin, Staatskapelle Weimar, Luftwaffenmusikkorps Erfurt & Kirill Karabits
Klassiek - Released by audite Musikproduktion on 5 jan. 2018
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Busoni: Piano Concerto in C Major, Op. 39, BV 247 (Live)
Pietro Massa, Neubrandenburger Philharmonie, Ernst Senff Chor Berlin, Stefan Malzew, Philharmonischer Chor Neubrandenburg
Klassiek - Released by Myricae Classics on 5 jan. 2018
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
PROKOFIEV, S.: Alexander Nevsky (Strobel)
Marina Domashenko, Ernst Senff Chor Berlin, Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Frank Strobel
Klassiek - Released by CapriccioNR on 1 jan. 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Avodat Shabbat (Friday Evening Service)
Robert Brubaker, Constance Hauman, Elizabeth Shammash, Ernst Senff Chor Berlin, Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Gerard Schwarz
Klassiek - Released by Milken Family Foundation on 1 feb. 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Milken Archive Digital Volume 8, Digital Album 2
Richard Troxell, Carol Meyer, Ernst Senff Chor Berlin, Margaret Kampmeier, Rundfunk Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Yoel Levi
Koormuziek - Released by Milken Archive Digital on 5 jun. 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo