Who is On Stage

Simon Halsey
Soloists
The Rundfunkchor Berlin
Antalya State Opera and Ballet Orchestra

The Rundfunkchor Berlin

The Rundfunkchor Berlin is the oldest radio choir in Germany. Its wide-ranging repertoire extends from the Renaissance period to the present day. The main emphasis is on works involving choral and orchestral forces. The Rundfunkchor Berlin works with the world's leading orchestras and conductors, regularly appearing in various major concert venues.

Since April 2001 Simon Halsey has infected the Rundfunkchor with his enthusiasm, vitality and characteristic British zeal. The choir, made up of 64 full-time professional singers, appears in approx. 60 concerts worldwide each season.
The repertoire of the Rundfunkchor Berlin revolves around large works for orchestra and chorus, ranging from Beethoven's Ninth to Hans Werner Henze's Ninth, which recently has become the choir's calling card with performances in Berlin, New York, London, Monaco and many other places.
Needless to say, the choir maintains especially close ties with three of Berlin's eight major performing groups: the Berliner Philharmoniker under Sir Simon Rattle, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester under Ingo Metzmacher and the Rundfunk Sinfonie-Orchester under Marek Janowski. On joint tours and with spectacular a cappella programmes, it acts as a cultural ambassador for the German capital.
Since its inception in early 1925 the Rundfunkchor Berlin has regularly participated in both concert and stage performances of operas and operettas which call for spontaneity, physical expression and stage presence, which also benefits the ensemble's concert appearances.
To retain its flexibility and curiosity, the Rundfunkchor continues to explore the limits of its repertoire in stylistic and geographic terms. It reaches out to tomorrow's audiences in specific youth programmes and offers young, professional singers traineeships.
The Rundfunkchor has also been formally recognised for their work, by winning two Grammys in as many years for best choral performance, with Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem in 2008 and Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms in 2009.