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.

With his unmistakable artistic signature, Daniel Raiskin has become one of the most recognized conductors of his generation and had developed a broad repertoire beyond the mainstream in his strikingly conceived programmes. A son of a prominent musicologist, Daniel Raiskin grew up in St. Petersburg. He attended the celebrated conservatory in his native city and continued his studies in Amsterdam and Freiburg. First focusing on viola, he was inspired to take up the baton as a result of an encounter with the distinguished teacher Lev Savich. In addition, he also took classes with Maestri such as Mariss Jansons, Neeme Järvi, Milan Horvat, Woldemar Nelson und Jorma Panula.

From the 2020/2021 season Daniel Raiskin is the Principal Conductor of the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra in Bratislava. He is Music Director of the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra since August 2018 and Principal Guest Conductor of the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra from season 2017/18.

His regular guest appearances include the Hong Kong Sinfonietta, Naples Philharmonic Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra Taiwan, Niederösterreichische Tonkünstlerorchester, Orchestre National de Belgique, Orchestre National de Lyon, Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife, Osaka Philharmonic, Residentie Orkest, Sinfonia Varsovia, Stuttgarter Philharmonikern, Swedish Chamber Orchestra and Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra. His appearances in opera productions include Carmen, Shostakovich’s The Nose and Mozart’s Don Giovanni. Within the InClassica Dubai International Music Festival 2021 and 2022 he conducted the Slovak Philharmonic Orchestra. Furthermore, he will conduct this orchestra on a tour in Japan in 2023.

Raiskin was Chief Conductor of the Staatsorchester Rheinische Philharmonie in Koblenz (2005- 2016) and of the Artur Rubinstein Philharmonic Orchestra in Lódz (2008-2015), and Principal Guest Conductor of the Orquesta Sinfónica de Tenerife (season 2017/18)

Daniel Raiskin is also relentlessly committed to sharing his knowledge and passion with young musicians around the world. He devotes his time regularly to working with youth orchestras in a.o. Canada, Estonia, Germany, Iceland, Netherlands and South Africa.

Among the major soloists with whom he has appeared are Emanuel Ax, Rudolf Buchbinder, Cameron Crozman, Xavier de Maistre, Renée Fleming, Nelson Freire, Martin Fröst, Alban Gerhardt, Vadim Gluzman, Natalia Gutman, Daniel Hope, Kari Kriikku, Simone Lamsma, Lang Lang, Francois Leleux, Jan Lisiecki, Alexei Lubimov, Tatjana Masurenko, Albrecht Mayer, Daniel Müller-Schott, Olli Mustonen, Julian Rachlin, Benjamin Schmid, Julian Steckel, Anna Vinnitskaya, Lukáš Vondráček and Alexei Volodin.

Recent recordings include Mahler Symphony No. 3 and Shostakovich Symphony No. 4 with the label AVI, both to great critical acclaim. His recording with cello concertos by Korngold, Bloch and Goldschmidt with Julian Steckel and the label AVI received an Echo Klassik Award in 2012. Other recent recording projects include a Louis Glass Symphony cycles and a concerto cycle with the entire concertos and rhapsodies by Aram Khachaturian, both with the label CPO,Lutosławski’s vocal-instrumental works with the label Dux and a recording of Alexander Tansman’s Isaie le Prophète and Psaumes with the label World Premiere Recordings.