In keeping with its name, the Hildesheim Cathedral Chamber Choir consists of around 20 singers who are able to prepare pieces themselves and then put them together in a short space of time.
The members of this choir specialise in a cappella music from the Renaissance, but also devote themselves to music from other eras. In keeping with its role as a chamber choir in an episcopal church, compositions by Palestrina are at the centre of its work. The compositions are performed at Sunday services or in concert.
Trips have taken the chamber choir to northern Italy (Pavia, Milan and Genoa) together with the cathedral choir and the choral schola ‘Schola Gregoriana’, a few years later to Rome and together with the ‘Schola Gregoriana’ to Ratzeburg (cathedral), Schwerin (Provost Church of St Anna) and Wismar (St Laurentius).
Renaissance pieces (Palestrina, Victoria) were recorded in October 2011. These compositions can be heard on the double CD ‘Himmlisches Jerusalem - Musik aus Mittelalter, Renaissance und Romantik’. The cathedral choir (motets from the English, French and German Romantic periods), the choral schola ‘Schola Gregoriana’ (mass propers from the 31st Sunday of the year based on a 13th century Hildesheim manuscript) and soloists from Hildesheim Cathedral Music can also be heard here.
The singers are coached individually and in small groups by Martina Nawrath.
The prerequisites for participation in the chamber choir are an adaptable voice and a good ear, as well as the ability to work on the pieces themselves. If you are interested, please make an appointment for an audition with Cathedral Music Director Thomas Viezens.
Lux in tenebris
The double CD ‘Lux in tenebris’ was produced in 2015. The work by composer Helge Burggrabe was commissioned to mark the anniversary of the 1,200th diocese of Hildesheim. In addition to the cathedral choir, the chamber choir, the choral schola ‘Schola Gregoriana’ and the girls' choir can be heard here, as well as soloists and instrumentalists.