The Choir

The mixed choir Junges Vokalensemble Hannover was founded in 1981 by its artistic director Prof. Klaus-Jürgen Etzold. The choir consists of about 50 female and male singers. Many of the members are active and former students of the University of Music, Drama and Media Hannover, but other professions are represented as well, and all singers are united in their wide choral experience and their joy in singing challenging works together. The performance of a wide range of a cappella works, some of them quite unknown, forms an important emphasis of the choir. In addition to sacred and secular a cappella music of the 15th century until today, the choir performs cantatas, masses, oratorios, and passions.

Many compositions were broadcasted for radio stations or published on CD. The choir has recorded sixteen CDs and performed several world premieres of contemporary compositions, e.g. by Büsing, Dinescu, Fuchs, Wangenheim, Świder, Sixten, Penderecki and Banter. In 2010 the choir received the ECHO KLASSIK award for the CD "Glaubenslieder", the highest prize for CD recordings in Germany.

The choir has been on a large number of concert tours, which led the singers to many European countries, but also to Egypt, Mexico, Russia, Israel, China, Venezuela, Turkey, the Philippines, Singapore, USA, South Africa and Namibia. The choir successfully participated in several international choir competitions and won various prizes, e.g. 1989 Middlesbrough/England, 1994 Riva del Garda/Italy, 1995 Llangollen/Wales, 1997 Budapest/Hungary, 1997 Marktoberdorf/Germany, 2001 Spittal/Austria, 2006 Torrevieja/Spain, 2010 Panyu/China, 2011 Tallinn/Estonia, 2012 Porlamar/Venezuela, 2015 Montreux/Switzerland, 2017 in Preveza/Greece and 2019 Šiauliai/Lithuania. In 2007 the choir was awarded 3rd prize in LET THE PEOPLES SING by the European Broadcasting Union. The participation in festivals and competitions gives the singers the great chance of becoming acquainted with new works and other choral traditions.

The voice trainers of the choir are Clara Hock, Katharina Schories, Jasmin Sönksen and Biljana Wittstock.

On YouTube you will find numerous recordings/ videos of the choir.