Poetic and monumental

Founded in 1994 by Professor Markus Utz and under his direction ever since, the ensemble cantissimo has not only made a name for itself with spectacular rediscoveries and premieres of great masters of choral music, but also with the sound presence of its professional singers. The choir's fine, transparent quality coupled with unusual and exciting program concepts make it a sought-after vocal ensemble in Germany, Switzerland and beyond. Last year's concerts in New York, Boston and at Yale University on the east coast of the USA were both a great success and confirmation of this.

The ensemble cantissimo is celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2019 in a festive and celebratory manner. Two concert projects are planned, both of which promise delightful and gripping listening experiences through interactions with an instrumental soloist and a reciter: Love - Songs of Love and the Mass in B minor by Johann Sebastian Bach. Both projects will be performed in several concerts.

Under the title Love - Songs of Love cantissimo focuses on a central and global theme of humanity - love. The ensemble has selected masterful settings of the "Song of Songs" from the early Baroque to the present day and combines them in a stylistically transgressive dialog with a solo, improvising flute played by Zurich flutist Matthias Ziegler. He is committed to traditional flute literature, contemporary music and musical concepts between classical and jazz.

The program includes vivid Song of Songs motets by the early Baroque composer Melchior Franck, the melodious Four Songs of Love by the recently deceased Swedish composer Sven-David Sandström and the seven-part a cappella cantata Le Cantique des Cantiques by Jean-Yves Daniel-Lesur. As a contemporary of Olivier Messiaen, he shared his conviction that sensual and believing love were not mutually exclusive, but complemented and enhanced each other as experiences.

ensemble cantissimo dedicates the second concert project to Johann Sebastian Bach and his Mass in B minor. It is a key work of music history, with its 26 movements more topical than ever after 250 years, a musical symbol of human existence, a work in the balance of great music and personal testimony of faith. The ensemble cantissimo will perform Bach's Mass in B minor together with the Swiss baroque orchestra le buisson prospérant and the author Robert Schneider (Sleeping brother) as a recitalist. He wrote his "Five Tropes" as short reflections on the Mass in B minor. They revolve around the themes of childhood, adulthood and becoming a child again and will be performed in Switzerland for the first time.

The solo parts will be cast from the orchestra's own ranks, as was customary in Bach's time. The baroque orchestra le buisson prospérant is made up of musicians who play in prominent positions in the Philharmonia Zurich opera orchestra, the baroque orchestras La Scintilla and Capriccio Basel, the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra and the Camerata Bern.

Concert dates