PARTICIPANTS UNIVERSITAS CANTAT 2019
Halle University Choir “Johann Friedrich Reichardt” - Halle, Germany
Conductor: Jens Lorenz
Halle University Choir “Johann Friedrich Reichardt” - Halle, Germany
https://www.coll-music.uni-halle.de/universitaetschor/
The Halle University Choir "Johann Friedrich Reichardt" consists of about 100 students of all disciplines and members of the university. Since 1984 the choir has been led by UMD Jens Lorenz. He is assisted by Dr. Jens Arndt as 2nd conductor. The ensemble is an established concert partner and regularly collaborates with major orchestras in the region such as the Staatskapelle Halle, the Handel Festival Orchestra or the Anhaltische Philharmonie Dessau. At festivals such as the Handel Festival or the International Fasch Festival, the choir regularly gives concerts, which are also broadcasted on the radio.
The a cappella repertoire ranges from the Renaissance, madrigals, Romantic works, folk songs, modern music to jazz and rock. One focus is the performance of the works of J. F. Fasch and other s of the Central German Baroque. Particularly noteworthy are the performances of Stephan Zebe's gospel mass Kyrie and Martin Völliger's Latin Jazz Mass. In 2018 the choir won the first prize at the international choir competition "Choral Cantat" in Verona.
Jens Lorenz, born in Leipzig, studied conducting at the Hochschule für Musik "Franz Liszt" in Weimar and took part in master classes given by Helmuth Rilling and Kurt Masur, among others. Since 2002 he has been Music Director of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg and is also a lecturer for choir and orchestral conducting at the Institute of Music. With the university choir he has performed oratorios by J.S.Bach, G.F.Händel, G.P.Telemann and W.A.Mozart as well as Fauré's Requiem, Dvorák's Stabat mater or the Messa da Requiem by G. Verdi.
Within his artistic activity, he pays special attention to the performance of unknown works by composers of Central Germany, such as the court kapellmeister of Zerbst, Johann Friedrich Fasch, of whom he brought many unknown compositions back to life.
In addition to his concert activities he appears regularly as a juror at competitions and as a lecturer at choir conducting courses. The city of Zerbst awarded him the Johann Friedrich Fasch Prize.
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