Rostocker Motettenchor (Choir)

Founded: 1964 - Germany

Already at DDR times the Rostocker Motettenchor (= RMC), which Hartwig Eschenburg created in 1964, attracted attention with concerts in famous churches and concert halls of East Germany, e.g. in the Dresdner Kreuzkirche, the Thomakirche and the Gewandhaus in Leipzig or the Berlin Schauspielhaus. Concert tours abroad remained however for a long time forbidden for the Rostocker Motettenchor. Only in 1988 they were given the permission to appear in Poland, and in 1989 in Schleswig-Holstein.

As the only church choir it received certification from the DDR government to produce records. They made recordings all Bach’s Motets, and a CD with the title ‘Evening Silence’.

Apart from numerous concerts also in the old land of the Federal Republic, for example at the Bach-Akademie in Stuttgart, the choir, which has today a broad repertoire from a-cappella and oratorio works from the classical period to the modern era, has already made guest appearances in Luxembourg, Denmark, Holland and the Czech Republic.

A special high point was the participation in 1995 at Oregon Bach Festival in the USA, where the choir participated among other things in an internationally filled performance of the Requiem of Benjamin Britten.

Source: Der Rostocker Motettenchor Website, English translation by Aryeh Oron (August 2001)
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (August 2001)

Hartwig Eschenburg: Short Biography | Rostocker Motettenchor | Recordings of Vocal Works

Links to other Sites

Der Rostocker Motettenchor (St.-Johannis-Kantorei Rostock) [German]