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The beginnings of the Singknaben der St. Ursenkathedrale Solothurn (Singknaben) - the choirs of the time - go back to the founding of the St. Ursen Stift in 742. With a tradition going back more than 1,200 years, the Singknaben are the oldest boys' choir in Switzerland and also one of the most traditional choirs in Europe.
In 1971, Peter Scherer took over the choir, which then consisted of five choral halls, and expanded it into a large boys' choir over the course of 36 years. From 2007 to 2021, Andreas Reize, who sang in the choir as a boy, conducted the Singknaben. Tobias Stückelberger, who gained his first singing experience in the Basel Boys’ Choir, has been choirmaster of the Boys’ Choir since 2021.
Today the choir includes over 60 boys and young men. The repertoire ranges from Gregorian chants to motets, cantatas, masses and sacred songs to folk songs from Switzerland and many other countries. The boys and young men sing the old masters of choral music such as Monteverdi, Heinrich Schütz and J.S. Bach with particular enthusiasm, but also cultivate classical, romantic and contemporary choral music. In addition, detours into the gospel, jazz or even pop areas are not neglected.
The boys and young men come from different schools and professions. They devote three to four hours each week to singing. During this time they work on the pieces in the individual part, practice with the entire choir and train their voice under the guidance of professional singing teachers. The equivalent of the quite large effort is above all the joy of high-quality music-making, but also the camaraderie and the lively annual program with the many highlights.
In the spring, the boys' voices attend the singing camp, where they work out the concert program for the autumn. In addition to singing, they have time for socializing, fun and games. Before the autumn holidays, the large choir will perform the premiere of the concert program and will soon embark on tour with it. In recent years, numerous European countries have also been visited, such as the Czech Republic, Finland, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, Russia and Hungary and the USA. |
