ChorWerk Ruhr
ChorWerk Ruhr, founded in 1999, is a professional and highly flexible vocal ensemble with a repertoire that stretches from early Western homophony and polyphony to the important oratorios and beyond. Award-winning conductor Florian Helgath has been artistic director of ChorWerk Ruhr since November 2011, following in the steps of his predecessors Frieder Bernius and Rupert Huber. His work spotlights new choral music in the context of traditional musical forms, thus allowing them to have an impact on the listener against the backdrop of a rich music history. Together with this first class ensemble of young and flexible voices, he is able to produce choral music of the highest quality.
ChorWerk Ruhr has become one of the top artistic trademarks of the Ruhr Region and one of North Rhine-Westphalia’s top choruses. Since its founding, the ensemble has performed concerts, ranging from early music to new music and working with prominent conductors such as Sylvain Cambreling, Reinhard Goebel, Robin Gritton, Susanna Mällki, Peter Neumann, Peter Rundel, Bruno Weil, and Hans Zender.
In concerts with prominent orchestras like Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, Concerto Köln, Ensemble Resonanz, musikFabrik NRW, Amsterdam’s Schönberg Ensemble, Cappella Coloniensis, Ensemble Modern, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie, Sinfonieorchester Baden-Baden und Freiburg and Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks ChorWerk Ruhr has thrilled audiences again and again and has been enthusiastically received by the critics. Frequent collaborations with WDR and DLF and participation in music festivals in Germany and abroad reflect the popularity of the excellent ensemble. Each year, ChorWerk Ruhr cooperates with Ruhrtriennale in a special way, this year with two productions: Louis Andriessens opera De Materie and the concert Figure humaine held at the Salzlager of UNESCO Welterbe Zollverein in Essen.