The Choir
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- Last Updated: Friday, 22 September 2023 01:18
The choir, which has about 100 members, and the orchestra of the University of Göttingen, which has about 70 members, were founded in theircurrent form in Göttingen in 1946 and led by the then Academic Music Director (AMD) Hermann Fuchs, later by Ingolf Helm until 2021. From 2021to 2022, Andreas Jedamzik directed the ensembles.
Since 2023, Antonius Adamske has been the artistic director.
The actual foundation of the Göttingen University Music can be traced back to Bach's pupil Johann Friedrich Schweinitz (1708-1780). In 1735 – the year of his arrival as a law student at the then academy – he founded a Collegium musicum, which included a choir and an orchestra. From 1779, the now famous musicologist Johann Nikolaus Forkel (1749-1818) was appointed the first academic music director. His successor, Johann AugustGünther Heinroth (1780-1846), prepared a flourishing concert scene for the city, among other things with the help of the Singakademie, which was founded in 1818. The concert scene of his time had illustrious names to offer: Louis Spohr, Carl Maria von Weber, Niccolò Paganini and later FranzLiszt performed in Göttingen.
The programme of the Göttingen university ensembles spans a wide range from the old masters to classical-romantic symphonies, masses andoratorios to contemporary forms. Another well-kept feature is the regular performance of cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach in the services of theUniversity Church of St. Nikolai.
The University Choir and the University Orchestra have travelled to Italy, France, Austria and Hungary and have been invited several times by the Göttingen Handel Society to participate in the Göttingen Handel International Festival in 1985, 1995, 2005 and 2010. In 2022, the University Choir under the direction of Andreas Jedamzik won second place in the Lower Saxony Choir Competition. Regardless of this, Göttingen University Musiccan also look back on a remarkable concert life: for the concert archive of the University Choir follow this link for the choir's concert archive.