Gächinger Kantorei and Bach-Collegium Stuttgart
Choir Gächinger Kantorei and orchestra Bach-Collegium Stuttgart are one of the most renowned ensembles in Germany.
The Gächinger Kantorei was founded by Helmuth Rilling in 1954. It received it’s name from a small village on the Swabian Alb, where the first rehearsals and performances took place. Very soon the choir became busy touring in Germany and Europe. Later followed performances in the United States, Canada, and Japan, which have become a regular tradition until today. Oratorical pieces, performed together with the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart, have become part of the repertory since 1965. In 1976 the Gächinger Kantorei under Helmuth Rilling's direction was invited by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra to perform together Brahms' A German Requiem for its Israel première. This was the first concert of a German choir in Israel. The complete recording of all of Bach's sacred cantatas and oratories could be presented to the public in 1985 for the 300th birthday of Johann Sebastian Bach after a 15 years of production time.
The Bach-Collegium Stuttgart was founded in 1965 also by Helmuth Rilling. It is the most important instrumental partner of the Gächinger Kantorei, for example for the complete recording of all sacred cantatas and oratories by J. S. Bach. Most of its members are coming from the southern part of Germany. These experienced musicians are very knowledgeable about different musical styles and especially about Baroc music. They join together for rehearsals, concerts, recordings, and TV productions. The Bach-Collegium Stuttgart accompanies the Gächinger Kantorei on concert tours in Germany and abroad. It is also available during the Bach Academy called courses for young conductors, singers, and instrumentalists, which are held by Helmuth Rilling and his Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart (founded in 1981) all over Europe, the United States, Japan, and South America.
In the last years Helmuth Rilling, the Gächinger Kantorei and the Bach-Collegium Stuttgart have been regular guests at the most important Music Festivals the world over - such as Salzburger Festspiele, Vienna and Berlin Festwochen, Luzerner Musikfestwochen, Prager Frühling, and also at numerous Bach Festivals, for example in London, Berlin, Leipzig, Strasbourg, and Ansbach. The great artistic variety of both ensembles and their conductor is documented on numerous CDs with the successful label “hänssler CLASSIC”. Besides the complete edition of Bach's sacred oratorical work the main emphasis is put on vocal symphonic rarities from the 18th and 19th century as well as on music of our century, including several world premieres.
