Vocal Group Concert Clemens

One of Denmark's top vocal groups, Concert Clemens has made an international impact in concerts and competitions. The ensemble has recorded for Orchid Classics and OUR Recordings, among other labels. Concert Clemens was formed in 1997 in Aarhus, Denmark, by conductor Carsten Seyer-Hansen, who remained its director as of the mid-2020s. The group has sometimes been known as Vokalgruppen Concert Clemens or, in English, Vocal Group Concert Clemens; even its website uses both forms. The ensemble consists of 16 trained singers. By the late 2000s decade, Concert Clemens was making an impact on the competition scene, taking first prize at the International Choir Competition in Randers, Denmark, in 2009 and, abroad, winning second prize at the Harald Andersen International Chamber Choir Competition in Helsinki, Finland, in 2012. The group benefited from a master class with choral conductor Paul Hillier in 2011, and in the early 2010s, it began to attract the attention of prestigious international guest conductors such as Frieder Bernius and Kaspars Putniņš. In 2012, the ensemble made its recording debut, appearing on the Danacord album Maurice Duruflé: Complete Organ Works, Motets, Requiem. That album won the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik in Germany. The group's debut as a principal artist came in 2015 with the album Concert Clemens on the Danacord label, featuring Scandinavian and French repertory. The group moved to Orchid Classics in 2016 for the album There Is No Rose... Christmas in the 21st Century. Concert Clemens gained a reputation in Denmark for, among other appearances, those as the featured artist at the 2013 Aarhus Cathedral Choir Festival. In 2015, the group traveled abroad to the Oslo International Church Music Festival, performing in a work called "Psalm Suite" that featured a fusion of Scandinavian jazz and the Danish hymn tradition. In 2023, Concert Clemens moved to the OUR Recordings label for a recording of Hugo Distler's a cappella oratorio Die Weihnachtsgeschichte.
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