Johann Sebastian Bach Mass in B minor

Johann Sebastian Bach is one of the most important composers of Western music history. He came from a widely ramified musical dynasty, which produced numerous musicians and organists in the Thuringian-Saxon area.

Bach vocal

Ever since Carus-Verlag was founded in 1972, publishing the music of Johann Sebastian Bach has been a special focus for us. In the 2017 Reformation anniversary year we completed the Bach vocal project. Bach's complete sacred vocal works are now available in modern Urtext editions, together with performance material. A complete edition of all the full scores is also available in a high quality box set. Personal details

Since August 2013, the Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart has been under the artistic direction of Hans-Christoph Rademann, the director of the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart. Under the patronage of the Bachakademie, the choir plays a decisive role in a wide range of concerts, guest performances and recordings for both radio and CD. The center of the choir’s activities consists, in addition to its manifold activities in the MUSI KFEST UTT GART , of a large concert series with oratorio programs ranging from Schütz to commissioned contemporary works. The interpretation of vocal works by Johann Sebastian Bach has always been a special focus of the choir. The Gächinger Kantorei Stuttgart, which is named after a small village in the Swabian Alb and was founded by Helmuth Rilling in 1954, has ranked as one of the outstanding concert choirs of the world for decades. In addition to regular performances with its partner ensemble, the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, the choir frequently works together with orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic. It also has a particularly close relationship with the Stuttgart Radio Symphony Orchestra of the SWR. The choir is regularly conducted by guest conductors such as Masaaki Suzuki, Krzysztof Penderecki, Alexander Liebreich and Sir Roger Norrington. Guest performances have led the ensemble to, among others, China and Latin America, as well as to the large festivals Salzburg, Lucerne, Prague, New York, Paris, London, Vienna and Seoul. The choir has recorded hundreds of CDs which include Bach’s complete vocal works, diverse 18th century oratorios as well as several world premieres including works by Penderecki, Pärt and Rihm. Personal details

Personal details

Conductor Hans-Christoph Rademann is an immensely versatile artist with a broad repertoire who devotes himself with equal passion and expertise both to the performance and rediscovery of early music and to the first performances and cultivation of Contemporary Music. Born in Dresden and raised in the Erzgebirge mountains, he was influenced at an early age by the great Central German kantorial and musical tradition. He was a student at the traditional Kreuzgymnasium, a member of the famous Kreuzchor, and studied choral and orchestral conducting at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden. During his studies, he founded the Dresdner Kammerchor and formed it into a top international choir which is still under his direction today. Since 2013, Hans-Christoph Rademann has been the academy director of the International Bach Academy Stuttgart. He regularly collaborates with leading choirs and ensembles of the international music scene. From 1999 to 2004 he was chief conductor of the NDR Choir and from 2007 to 2015 chief conductor of the RIAS Chamber Choir. Guest conducting engagements have led and continue to lead him to the Nederlandse Bachvereniging, the Collegium Vocale Gent, the Akademie für Alte Musik, the Freiburger Barockorchester, the Deutsche Radiophilharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern, the Sinfonieorchester Basel, the Orchestre Philharmonique de Luxembourg, among others. Hans-Christoph Rademann has been awarded prizes and honors for his artistic work, including the Johann Walter Plaque of the Saxon Music Council (2014), the Saxon Constitutional Medal (2008), the Sponsorship Prize as well as the Art Prize of the state capital Dresden (1994 and 2014 respectively). He received the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik several times for his numerous CD recordings (most recently in 2016), as well as the Grand Prix du Disque (2002), the Diapason d’Or (2006 & 2011), the CHOC de l’année 2011 and the Best Baroque Vocal Award 2014. In 2016 he was awarded the European Church Music Prize of the city of Schwäbisch Gmünd. His exemplary interpretation and recording of the complete works of Heinrich Schütz with the Dresdner Kammerchor in the Stuttgart Carus-Verlag, which was completed in 2019, was awarded the newly endowed Heinrich Schütz Prize as well as the OPUS KLASSIK 2020 in the same year. Hans-Christoph Rademann is professor of choral conducting at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden. He is also artistic director of the Musikfest Erzgebirge, ambassador of the Erzgebirge and patron of the Christian Hospice Service Dresden. Personal details

Equally at home on the concert and opera stages, Carolyn Sampson has enjoyed notable successes all over the world. In addition to engagements with, among others, the English National Opera, the Glyndebourne Festival, the Boston Early Music Festival, the Opéra de Paris, the Opéra de Lille, the Opéra de Montpellier as well as the Opéra National du Rhin, she has sung concerts, among others at the BBC Proms. In Europe her many appearances have included concerts with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, The English Concert, Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, Symphony Orchestra of the Bayerischer Rundfunk, WDR Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Philharmonic, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. In the US Carolyn Sampson has featured as soloist with San Francisco Symphony, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, St Paul Chamber Orchestra and Philadelphia Orchestra. Her many recordings include a highly-acclaimed CD of Stravinsky’s Les Noces and Mass. Her recording of Purcell songs was selected as Editor’s Choice in the December 2007 issue of Gramophone Magazine, as was her first recital CD, Fleurs, in May 2015. Personal details

Anke Vondung was born in Speyer and studied with Professor Rudolf Piernay at the Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts. She was an ensemble member at the Tiroler Landestheater in Innsbruck from the 1999/2000 season until the end of the 2001/02 season where she sang the central roles of her voice type. This was followed by guest appearances, among others, at the Théâtre du Châtelet Paris, the Bayerische Staatsoper Munich, the Salzburg Festival and the Mozart Week Salzburg, the Opéra Bastille Paris, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Glyndebourne Festival, the Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam, the Staatsoper Berlin, the San Diego Opera, the Munich Opera Festival, the Flanders Festival as well as the Hamburg State Opera. She gave her debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York in October 2007 singing Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro, where she later also sang in Mozart’s La clemenza di Tito. She was an ensemble member of the Saxon State Opera Dresden for the seasons from 2003/04 to 2005/06, and has remained closely connected with the opera house as a guest artist. As a concert and lied singer, Anke Vondung has performed with renowned orchestras under conductors such as James Conlon, Helmuth Rilling, Sir Roger Norrington, Philippe Herreweghe, Edo de Waart, Kent Nagano, Peter Schreier, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, James Levine, Marek Janowski, Alexander Shelley, Enoch zu Guttenberg, Hans-Christoph Rademann and Jeffrey Tate. Personal details

The Austrian tenor Daniel Johannsen is one of the most sought-after Evangelists and Bach interpreters of his generation. After studying church music, he studied singing with Margit Klaushofer and Robert Holl in Vienna; he participated in master classes with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Nicolai Gedda as well as Christa Ludwig, and he has been awarded prizes in the Bach, Schumann, Mozart, Hilde Zadek und Wigmore Hall competitions. Since his debut in 1998, he has performed as a concert, lied and opera singer – with works from all periods – in the large music centers of Europe, North America, Japan and the Middle East. Daniel Johannsen has performed at numerous festivals (Styriarte Graz, Salzburger Festspiele, Israel Festival, La Folle Journée, Bachfest Leipzig); he has performed under the direction of notable conductors such as Sir Neville Marriner, Trevor Pinnock, Bertrand de Billy and Enoch zu Guttenberg. Lied recitals form the main focus of his activity, and he has collaborated with pianists such as Graham Johnson, Charles Spencer und Helmut Deutsch. Numerous CDs, some of which have been awarded prizes, as well radio and television recordings attest to his artistic activities. Personal details

Tobias Berndt began his musical education in the Dresden Kreuzchor. He studied with Christian Polster in Leipzig and continued his training with Rudolf Piernay in Mannheim. He also studied with Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Thomas Quasthoff. He was a laureate in numerous renowned singing competitions, winning – among others – the International Das Lied Competition in Berlin, the International Brahms Competition and the Cantilena Singing Competition. Tobias Berndt has also established himself abroad as an opera and concert singer. He has collaborated with conductors such as Philippe Herreweghe, Helmuth Rilling, Frieder Bernius, Teodor Currentzis, Marcus Creed, Hans-Christoph Rademann, Andrea Marcon, Marek Janowski and Sir Roger Norrington and has performed at the Berliner Philharmonie, the Tonhalle in Zurich, the Concertgebouw Amsterdam, the Leipzig Gewandhaus, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires and at Lincoln Center in New York. He has also performed at important festivals such as the Prague Spring, the Rheingau Musik Festival, the Händel Festivals in Göttingen und Halle, the Bachfest Leipzig, the Oregon Bach Festival and the International Music Festival in Peking. An extensive discography attests to his versatile artistic activities. Personal details