RIAS Kammerchor © Oliver Look
RIAS Kammerchor
The RIAS Kammerchor Berlin, which celebrated its 75th anniversary last season, is one of the most renowned professional choirs in the world. Numerous awards and prizes document the choir’s high international reputation: The German Record Critics’ Award, the ECHO Klassik, the Gramophone Award, the Choc de l’annee, the Prix Caecilia and the “Nachtigall” honorary prize from the Jury of the German Record Critics’ Award.
34 professional singers make up the multinational ensemble, which is known for its outstanding and precise sound. Its repertoire ranges from historically informed interpretations of Renaissance and Baroque music to works from the Classical and Romantic eras, together with regular world premieres.
Since the 2017/18 season, Justin Doyle has been the Chief Conductor and Artistic Director of the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin. His Japan debut with the choir took place in autumn of 2018. In November 2024, he made his second guest appearance in Japan with his ensemble and also made a stop in South Korea as part of this tour.
Previous recordings under Doyle’s direction have been enthusiastically received by audiences and critics alike. These include Handel’s “Messiah”, the “Coronation Anthems” and “Dixit Dominus”. The most recent release appeared in October 2024: Bach’s “Magnificat” in E flat major and Handel’s “Te Deum” in D major in collaboration with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. An a cappella CD with works by Tomás Luis de Victoria and Francisco Guerrero will be released in April 2025. And in June 2025, the first of two recordings with works by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Fanny Hensel will be released.
With approximately 50 concerts a year on national and international stages, the RIAS Kammerchor is a major cultural ambassador for the country. In its home city of Berlin, the choir presents ten concerts each season, including the renowned New Year’s Day concert at the Philharmonie Berlin. The Forum Concerts, in collaboration with the ensemble’s Friends Association, explore new concert forms and concepts in unusual locations all over Berlin. Moreover, the choir performs in collaboration with fellow ROC ensembles, such as the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin.
Every other year, the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin and Deutscher Musikrat host the final concert of Deutscher Preis für Chordirigieren, which concludes a multiannual funding programme for aspiring conductors. As part of the RIAS Kammerchor Studio, four young singers are invited to work closely with the choir each season. Additionally, the RIAS Kammerchor Berlin takes on mentorships for Berlin school choirs as part of its education programme.
Distinguished conductors as Günther Arndt, Uwe Gronostay, Marcus Creed, Daniel Reuss and Hans-Christoph Rademann have shaped the choir, which was founded in 1948 as part of the Rundfunk im amerikanischen Sektor (Radio in the American sector). An enduring and fruitful collaboration binds the choir to the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe and the Freiburger Barockorchester, as well as conductors such as Sir Simon Rattle, René Jacobs, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Iván Fischer, Rinaldo Alessandrini and Krista Audere.
The RIAS Kammerchor Berlin is an ensemble of the Rundfunk Orchester und Chöre gGmbH Berlin (ROC). Its shareholders are Deutschlandradio, the Federal Republic of Germany, the State of Berlin and Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg.
As of March 2025