Lübecker Knabenkantorei an St. Marien

The Lübecker Knabenkantorei’s modern history begins in 1948. The tradition of boys’ singing at St Mary’s church in Lübeck, however, reaches back as far as the seventeenth century. With their mention in Thomas Mann’s novel “Buddenbrooks”, the choristers of St Mary’s have even entered the domain of world literature. Today, Lübeck’s Knabenkantorei consists of two equally established concert choirs. In addition, the institution has been home to a stand-alone girls’ choir since 2010. The Lübecker Knabenkantorei is an organisation of the Gesellschaft zur Beförderung gemeinnütziger Tätigkeit von 1789 e. V., a charitable foundation based in Lübeck. The choir can be heard in numerous services and concerts at the brick cathedral of St Mary’s. In addition to the four Christmastide concerts which welcome thousands of visitors from across Germany and the globe, the annual performances of Johann Sebastian Bach’s St John Passion and various cantatas by Dieterich Buxtehude are highlights from the ensemble’s calendar. The men’s voices also prepare a programme of compositions for men’s choir which they perform in night-time services (Easter Vigil, Christmas midnight service) or in special concerts. For these, they study Gregorian chant with great care, and present their audiences with the medieval repertoire in collages with improvised organ music and percussion. Each year, the choir tours Germany and Europe with alternating a cappella programmes of sacred and secular choral music under the direction of the cantor at St Mary’s, Michael D. Müller. The Knabenkantorei has also repeatedly been asked to perform at official functions of the Hansestadt Lübeck. Highlights of the past year were the appearance at the state ceremony on the occasion of the Queen of Denmark’s visit, as well as the joint tour with the town’s mayor Bernd Saxe to the twinned town of La Rochelle. Michael D. Müller and his singers celebrated a great success in May 2010 when the ensemble was victorious in the boys’ choir category at the eighth edition of the Deutscher Chorwettbewerb in Dortmund and was awarded a second jury prize. This was followed by recordings with the North-German broadcasting station (NDR). The choir was also featured in the television production “Der letzte Patriarch”, starring the renowned German actors Mario Adorf and Hannelore Elsner. In addition, the Lübecker Knabenkantorei has participated a number of times in the regular series of televised church services produced by the ZDF. www.knabenkantorei.de