Boys of the Mainzer Domchor & Ladies of the Domkantorei Mainz

DOMKANTOREI ST. MARTIN was founded in 1987 by Prof. Mathias Breitschaft, its former conductor. Many well-known orchestra conductors have engaged the choir for performances and recordings in view of its homogeneous timbre and its high degree of musical flexibility. Thus the St. Martin Domkantorei has collaborated with musicians such as Riccardo Chailly, the late Giuseppe Sinopoli, the late David Shallon, Louis Langrée and others – appearing with the Bonn Beethoven Orchestra, the Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz, the State Orchestra Rheinische Philharmonie Koblenz, Dresden Staatskapelle, Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie in Bremen. The choir’s new conductor since August 2012 is Mainz Cathedral Director of Music Karsten Storck.
The Mainz Cathedral men’s and boys’ choir MAINZER DOMCHOR comprises a total of 140 members ages 8 to 24 who sing in its different formations. The choir has been performing in Cathedral masses every Sunday and church holiday ever since 1866, when it was founded by Bishop Emanuel von Ketteler. Moreover, in the course of the last 25 years, the choir has become quite well-known; its concert engagements have thus been steadily multiplying, and the formation has travelled to perform worldwide, including frequent appearances in German cathedrals and concert halls. The choir does not have its own boarding school; instead, its members meet three times a week in the Cathedral Choir House in order to rehearse great choral repertoire on the basis of extended choral and solo vocal training. Karsten Storck is the choir's artistic director.
Few orchestras can look back on a history as long as that of the RHEINISCHE PHILHARMONIE STATE ORCHESTRA. Its roots go back to 1654, the year when the Prince Bishop‘s Court Orchestra was founded in Koblenz. In 1973, the State took up the orchestra’s financing in order to ensure long-term enrichment of musical life in the Rhineland-Palatinate. The Rheinische Philharmonie not only offers over sixty orchestra concerts each year, but also plays for ca. 140 annual opera stagings at Koblenz Municipal Theatre, thus fulfilling an essential role in the cultural and social life of the Rhineland Palatinate. The orchestra reinforces its excellent reputation on tours in Germany and abroad, by participating in international festivals and through a series of recordings for radio and CD. It is thus offered a warm welcome in the great concert halls of Germany and Europe – in venues such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg. These outstanding results are due, last not least, to the constant dedication of Daniel Raiskin. Ever since his appointment as Chief Conductor in 2005, Raiskin has been making clear, decisive moves in favour of ongoing artistic evolution by forming the orchestra’s own unique, individual profile. The Rheinische Philharmonie State Orchestra collaborates on a regular basis with such internationally renowned artists as Julian Rachlin, Daniel Müller-Schott and Benjamin Schmid.