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The Choir
The A cappella Choir developed in 1964 from the male voice choir in Villach founded in 1855, and
is the fourth oldest
choir in Carinthia. In the more than five decades since its foundation
as a mixed choir directed by Professor Wulz it
has performed the most significant works of sacred and secular choral
music from
every period of European music and has made them accessible to a wide
audience through concerts, radio and TV programmes as well as records
and CDs.
The Monteverdi Vesper, Handel's oratorios Messiah, Alexander's Feast and
Judas Maccabaus, Bach’s St Matthew and St John Passions, the Christmas Oratorio
and the Mass in b minor, cantatas and motettes by Bach and Schütz, the Mozart
Requiem, Beethoven's 9th Sinfonie, Mendelsohn’s oratorios Christ and Elijah,
the German Requiem by Brahms, Verdi's Requiem, masses by Palestrina,
Byrd, Mozart, Bruckner
and Martin, Orffs Carmina Burana, the Symphony of Psalms by Strawinsky,
the Gloria by Poulenc, Dvor¹ak's Stabat Mater, Arthur Honnegger's King
David and Joan at the Stake and many others, these are the major choral
works which Professor
Wulz performed with his choir over the last five decades.
Folksong is also given serious attention.
In addition to the big concerts there are about 20 major and minor appearances per year including church services, TV and radio broadcasts and CD recordings.
With its concerts the choir has made a substantial contribution to the cultural life of Villach and the province of Carinthia, for which the choir received the award for culture in March 1987.
The choir has not only appeared in its hometown, but recently it has given concerts in Klagenfurt, Graz, Vienna, Linz, St Florian, Innsbruck, Meran, Szombathely, Udine, Berlin and Paris.
Concert tours have taken the choir to Belgium, twicw to Japan and to South
Africa, where it took part in an international competition and attained
excellent results. The last concert trips went to Singapore,
England, and Ireland.
In 1996 the choir gave a well received concert In London in memory of the 100th anniversary of the death of Anton Bruckner , performing the mass in e flat in cooperation with the Academy of Music of London.
For its outstanding achievements the choir was awarded the Ferdinand Grossmann Award in April 2000. When participating in the 2011 „Österreich
singt‟-competition the choir received an unanimous "Excellent" from the jury.
Photo
by Bernhard Mayer 2015
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