Chorus Viennensis

gegründet / founded 1952

The CHORUS VIENNENSIS was established in 1952 as the "Choral Schola of the Chapel of the Viennese Imperial Palace" by Monsignor Josef Schnitt who was the LEADER of the Vienna Choir Boys and the Rector of the Chapel of the Viennese Imperial Palace for many years. The establishment of the new choir was, among other things, motivated by the wish to complement the Vienna Choir Boys by an adequate ensemble of deeper voices.

The new choir quickly developed into a high-quality male choir ensemble consisting entirely of former Vienna Choir Boys. During its first few years the CHORUS VIENNENSIS performed mainly together with the Vienna Choir Boys. From 1956 to 1963 Ferdinand Grossmann, the artistic director of the Vienna Choir Boys, also dedicated a lot of time and effort to the CHORUS VIENNENSIS.

Under his successor, Hans Gillesberger, the choir published an abundance of records with sacred music by Haydn, Mozart and Schubert as well as cantatas and Passions by Bach in co-operation with Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Several of these records were awarded international prizes (Grand Prix du Disques). The co-operation with the Vienna Choir Boys comprised many successful concerts in Austria and abroad (USA,Canada, Japan, Mexico, Venezuela, Germany, France, Poland, England).

In addition to these joint activities, the CHORUS VIENNENSIS has since 1970 increasingly developed and gained a reputation as an independent male choir. The choir-masters during this period were Uwe Theimer, Uwe Christian Harrer and Guido Mancusi. Under Guido Mancusi, the CHORUS VIENNENSIS was in 1988 awarded the First Prize of the "5th international Franz Schubert Male Choir Competition" in Vienna as well as the Interpretation Award endowed by the City ot Vienna. The successors of Guido Mancusi were Walter Lochmann and Raoul Gehringer and the present choir-master is (also former member of Vienna Boys Choir) Michael Grohotolsky.

Today the repertoire of the choir comprises music from all periods, the ensemble especially standing out for its interpretation of music by Schubert and modern composers (Hindemith, Kratochwil, Schiske, Planyavsky). Regularly preparing Gregorian Chants for the Sunday Services in the Chapel of the Viennese Imperial Palace, several choir members, conducted by Thomas Holmes, have developed into an internationally renowned specialist ensemble for Gregorian music, the so-called "Choral Schola of the Chapel of the Viennese Imperial Palace". They performed with great success on the occasion of the Salzburg Festival, in Germany, in Poland and in Spain and have published a number of prize-winning Choral Chant CDs (Philips).

In addition to its choir concerts, the CHORUS VIENNENSIS also produces, for example, in co-operation with the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation, CDs with classical male choir music, Viennese music, Advent songs and Christmas carols as well as male choir music by Franz Schubert.

Source: http://www.chorusviennensis.at

As of Jan. 2007