With around 60 concerts a year, CD recordings and international guest appearances, the Rundfunkchor Berlin is one of the most outstanding choirs in the world. Three Grammy Awards alone stand for the quality of its recordings. Its broad repertoire, flexible, richly nuanced sound, flawless precision and gripping response make the professional choir a partner of major orchestras and conductors, including Kirill Petrenko, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. In Berlin, the choir collaborates intensively with the Berliner Philharmoniker as well as with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and their principal conductors.
The Rundfunkchor Berlin also attracts international attention with its interdisciplinary projects that break up the classical concert format and make choral music a new experience. The staged realization of the Brahms Requiem as a "human requiem" by Jochen Sandig and a team from Sasha Waltz & Guests became a milestone. Guest performances took place in New York, Hong Kong, Paris, Adelaide and Istanbul, among other places. With the project
"LUTHER dancing with the gods," the choir reflected on Luther's impact on and in the arts in a genre-bending concert performance with Robert Wilson and music by Bach, Nystedt, and Reich in fall 2017. For the transdisciplinary concert installation THE WORLD TO COME, the Rundfunkchor Berlin created a Berlin festival mass based on Beethoven's "Missa solemnis" in the 2020/21 season. Based on the concept and directed by Tilman Hecker, contemporary musical currents entered into dialogue with Beethoven's masterpiece. The musical journey into the world of tomorrow brought together national and international artists such as Birke J. Bertelsmeier, Colin Self, Mohammad Reza Mortazavi, Moor Mother and Planningtorock. The Rundfunkchor Berlin continued its transdisciplinary projects in 2022 with "Time Travellers" in the Schinkelhalle Potsdam.
With its community projects for different target groups - the big sing-along concert in the Berlin Philharmonie, the Festival of Choral Cultures for choirs from all over the world and the Liederbörse for Berlin schoolchildren - the Rundfunkchor Berlin aims to get as many people as possible singing. Its broad-based educational program SING! aims to sustainably network various partners in order to promote singing as a natural part of everyday life in Berlin's elementary schools. With its Academy and Schola as well as the Berlin International Master Class, the ensemble is committed to promoting the next generation of professional singers and conductors.
Founded in 1925, the Rundfunkchor Berlin will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2025. The choir has been shaped by conductors such as Helmut Koch, Dietrich Knothe, Robin Gritton and Simon Halsey. Since the 2015/16 season, Dutchman Gijs Leenaars has been at the helm of the ensemble as Principal Conductor and Artistic Director. Simon Halsey remains associated with the choir as honorary conductor and guest conductor.
The Rundfunkchor Berlin is an ensemble of the Rundfunk Orchester und Chöre gGmbH Berlin, sponsored by Deutschlandradio, the Federal Republic of Germany, the State of Berlin and the Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg.