Bundesjugendchor & Anne Kohler
Biography Bundesjugendchor & Anne Kohler
Federal Youth Choir
Around 50 excellent young choir singers work intensively to develop several demanding concert programs every year with works from the Renaissance to the present, which are presented in concerts nationwide and internationally. The artistic direction is in the hands of Anne Kohler, who is responsible for stylish musical interpretations and the continuous vocal pedagogical work on a homogeneous, characteristic sound of the Federal Youth Choir. The Federal Youth Choir receives further musical impulses from guest conductors and collaborations with other professional ensembles.
Since the founding concert in the Berlin Philharmonie in August 2021, the choir has already performed with the SWR Vokalensemble under the direction of Yuval Weinberg, the German Symphony Orchestra Berlin under the direction of Robin Ticciati, the Polish National Youth Choir (PNChM) under the direction of Agnieszka Franków- Żelazny has given concerts and appeared at international music festivals. For example, at the Lausitz Festival, at the Ansbach Bach Week, at the Heidelberg Spring, at the Eutin-Plön Bach Festival, at the International Chamber Choir Competition in Marktoberdorf and at the International Children's and Youth Choir Festival in Hanover.
Concerts took the Federal Youth Choir to the Philharmonie Berlin, the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Thomaskirche Leipzig, the Church of St. Peter in Mainz, the Limburg Cathedral and Görlitz, the Narodowe Forum Muzyki (near Breslau) and the Filharmonia Krakowska (near Krakow). A concert tour with a collaboration with the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir under the direction of Cecilia Martin-Löf in Sweden is planned for autumn 2024.
Five compositions have already been written for the Federal Youth Choir by Kathrin A. Denner, Jan Kopp, Roxanna Panufnik and two compositions by Elisabeth Fußeder on behalf of the German Music Council.
The Federal Youth Choir is a selection ensemble of the German Music Council to promote top young choir singers. The Federal Youth Choir is open to young singers between the ages of 18 and 26 who have their center of life in Germany or who live abroad as German citizens. The prerequisite for participation in the Federal Youth Choir is a successful audition.
The Federal Youth Choir receives its basic funding from funds from the Federal Ministry for Family, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (BMFSFJ).
Advisory boards are assigned to the projects of the German Music Council, which help shape the projects and advise on fundamental questions. They are appointed by the shareholder's executive committee for a period of four years.
Anne Kohler
As artistic director, Prof. Anne Kohler is responsible for the continuous vocal pedagogical work on a homogeneous, characteristic sound of the top ensemble. She leads rehearsals and concerts of the Federal Youth Choir and is supported in her work by musical assistants and voice trainers. In addition, other guest conductors will work with the ensemble on a project-by-project basis.
Anne Kohler is professor of choral conducting at the Detmold University of Music. There she leads the chamber choir and the vocal ensemble Pop-Up and supervises a major class of choral conductors. Their ensembles are characterized by liveliness, vocal quality, stylistic diversity and innovative programming. She studied school music, conducting and singing and deepened her training in master classes with Eric Ericson, Frieder Bernius, Volker Hempfling, Tonu Kaljuste, Jens Johansen and members of the “Real Group”. She works closely with Oliver Gies, Martin Carbow and Jens Johansen. Guest conducting and rehearsals for Marcus Creed, Roger Norrington, Pierre Boulez and Ingo Metzmacher led her to the SWR Vocal Ensemble, the Berliner Rundfunkchor and the WDR-RUnfunkchor. With her choirs she has won many first prizes at national and international competitions, for example the German Choir Competition, CantaRode (NL) and the Aarhus Vocal Festival (DK). She is internationally successful as a juror and lecturer for voice training, choir conducting and jazz choir conducting. Anne Kohler is a member of the advisory board of the Conducting Forum of the German Music Council. Since 2020 she has been the artistic director of the Federal Youth Choir in the German Music Council.
