amarcord

Wolfram Lattke tenor
Robert Pohlers tenor
Frank Ozimek baritone
Daniel Knauft bass
Holger Krause bass

Founded in 1992 by former members of St Thomas’s Boys Choir in Leipzig, amarcord has since become one of the world’s leading vocal ensembles. Their hallmarks include a unique tone, breathtaking homogeneity, musical authenticity, and a good dose of charm and humor. amarcord performs a vast, highly diverse repertoire ranging from medieval plainsong, madrigals and Renaissance masses, compositions and cycles of works from the European Romantic period and the 20th century to arrangements of acappella folksongs from all over the world.

The singers attach great importance to new vocal music. Works dedicated to the ensemble have been written by the likes of Jörg Widmann, Bernd Franke, Steffen Schleiermacher, Ivan Moody, James MacMillan, Sidney M. Boquiren, Siegfried Thiele and Dimitri Terzakis. Even though amarcord’s concert programmes focus on acappella works, they also regularly perform in concert with ensembles and artists such as the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the lautten compagney BERLIN, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra, Daniel Hope, Nils Mönkemeyer, viola da gamba player Hille Perl, the Schumann-Quartett, german hornsound and the Ensemble Modern.

amarcord’s prizes from international competitions include Tolosa in Spain, Tampere in Finland and Pohlheim in Germany, as well as the 1st Choir Olympics in the Austrian city of Linz. In 2002, the ensemble won the German Music Competition, having joined the ranks of the BA KJK (the cream of young musicians singled out by the German Music Council for special support) two years beforehand. In 2004, amarcord became the first group of singers to be awarded the Ensemble Prize at Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Attending master classes with the King’s Singers and the Hilliard Ensemble has provided amarcord with valuable inspiration over the years.

Alongside the Gewandhaus Orchestra and St Thomas Boys Choir, amarcord is now one of the leading representatives of Leipzig’s music scene in Germany and abroad. amarcord regularly appears at important music festivals. Numerous concert tours have taken the singers to more than 50 countries and nearly every corner of the globe. In conjunction with the Goethe Institute, the ensemble has made guest appearances in Australia, Southeast Asia, the Middle East, Russia and Central America.

Founded by amarcord in 1997 under the artistic direction of the group, the International Festival of Vocal Music “a cappella” (www.a-cappella-festival.de) has caught on as one of the foremost gatherings of its kind. Held in Leipzig every spring, it hosts outstanding vocal formations such as The Real Group, The King’s Singers, Take 6, and the Hilliard Ensemble.

The length discography of amarcord includes “Zu S. Thomas” a 2013 release of two Gregorian Masses from the Thomas Gradual of St. Thomas’s Church Leipzig which won the International Classical Music Award (ICMA).  They won a second ECHO Klassik Award in 2012 as Vocal Ensemble of the Year for “Das Lieben bringt groß’ Freud!” on the MDG label. Their 2009 release “Rastlose Liebe” (“Restless Love”) received the ECHO Klassik Award, the Luxembourgian Supersonic Award and was nominated for the MIDEM Classical Award.  Their first DVD production, “The Book of Madrigals” released with Accentus Music (a co- production with ZDF and ARTE), the five singers performed at the patrician Villa Godi in Venice.