The male chamber choir ffortissibros originated at the Musikgymnasium J. W. von Goethe in Schwerin. In its founding year, 2019, the ensemble began its journey by participating in the Limburg Male Choir Festival as the youngest choir and the only ensemble from northern Germany. There, the choir was awarded a Golden Diploma as well as the special prize for the best interpretation of a Romantic choral work. In 2021, Benedikt Kantert assumed the musical direction. At the end of April 2022, ffortissibros took part in the world’s largest male choir competition, the Cornwall International Male Choral Festival, and won first prizes both in its category and in the overall ranking. In addition, Benedikt Kantert was named the competition’s best conductor. In 2023, the choir achieved another outstanding success by winning first prize at the 11th German Choir Competition in Hanover. In 2025, ffortissibros participated in the Grand Prix of Nations Mauritius, where it received a gold medal and second place in the Chamber Choirs/Vocal Ensembles category. In the category of Sacred Choral Music, the choir also won a gold medal and first place with the highest score of the entire competition. In recognition of its cultural work, the ensemble received the Art and Culture Prize of the Sparkassenstiftung Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 2021 and was honored with an entry in the Golden Book of the City of Schwerin in 2022.
The ensemble is also distinguished by an active concert schedule in Germany and abroad, with repeated guest appearances at renowned venues such as the Berlin Philharmonie, the Gewandhaus and the St. Thomas Church in Leipzig. Performances at festivals such as Anima Mundi in the Duomo di Pisa or the Greifswald Bach Week complement the concert calendar. In 2024, the ensemble was part of the “Junge Elite” concert series of the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival.
Beyond its focus on a cappella music, the choir expands its repertoire through collaborations with orchestras and other ensembles. In addition to classical concert programmes, ffortissibros captivates audiences across generations through alternative performance formats and educational work. These include lecture concerts, discussion panels and talks, unusual concert venues, and interactive workshops for children and adults. The male chamber choir presented a cross-section of this diverse work in 2024 at chor.com, Europe’s most important meeting of the vocal music scene.
A particular focus of the ensemble’s work lies in the premiere performances of works by forgotten and contemporary composers across genre boundaries. Part of this work includes the male choral pieces of the composer Miloslav Kabeláč, which he composed as resistance music against the invasion of Nazi Germany into Czechoslovakia. On the 80th anniversary of the premiere of the resistance cantata “Neustupujte!” (“Do Not Retreat!”) by Miloslav Kabeláč, ffortissibros, together with the Junge Kammerphilharmonie Sachsen, organized a concert in Prague on 26 October 2025, the Czech national holiday. In 2024, ffortissibros released its first own CD featuring world premiere recordings of works by the Schwerin composer Friedrich Wilhelm Kücken. The recording was produced by the renowned label Rondeau Production in collaboration with Dr. Reinhard Wulfhorst and his music publishing house Edition Massonneau.
Also in 2024, the ensemble was featured on the album “BAUM” by the artist Mine. In November 2025, building on this collaboration, the choir participated in the concert tour “MINE & ORCHESTER” in Munich, Cologne, Hamburg, Leipzig, and Berlin as both background choir and support act.