The SWR Radio Choir is one of the leading international ensembles among professional choirs. Founded almost 75 years ago, the ensemble continues to be dedicated to the exemplary performance and further development of vocal music with passion and the highest level of vocal competence. The instrumental sound culture and the vocal and stylistic flexibility of the singers are unique and fascinate not only concert audiences around the world, but also composers.
Since 1946, the SWR has commissioned several compositions per year for its choir. The ensemble has premiered over 250 new choral works, including pieces by Andrej Adamek, Mark Andre, Nikolaus Brass, Adriana Hölszky, Maurizio Kagel, Hanspeter Kyburz, Heinz Holliger, Isabel Mundry, Enno Poppe, Rebecca Saunders, Martin Smolka, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Wolfgang Rihm, Samir Odeh-Tamimi and Vito Zuraj. In addition to contemporary music, the SWR Vokalensemble is dedicated primarily to demanding choral works of the Romantic and classical modern periods.
Principal Conductors Marinus Voorberg, Klaus Martin Ziegler and Rupert Huber have had a decisive influence on the SWR Vokalensemble in the past. Rupert Huber in particular shaped the typical sound of the SWR Vocalensemble, characterized by slender, straight voicing and great articulatory and intonational perfection.
From 2003 to 2020, Marcus Creed was the ensemble’s Artistic Director. More than 30 CDs were produced with him, featuring works by György Kurtág, Heitor Villa-Lobos, Eliot Carter, Charles Ives, Paul Hindemith, Luigi Nono, Wolfgang Rihm and Kaija Saariaho, as well as a highly acclaimed collection of modern choral works from America, Russia, Japan and numerous European countries. The SWR Vokalensemble has received numerous awards for its chamber-musical culture of interpretation, its stylistically confident interpretations and the great value of its recordings for the repertoire, including the annual German Record Critics’ Award, the ECHO Klassik, the Diapason d'Or, the Choc de la Musique and the Grand Prix du Disque.
Marcus Creed received the European Culture Award of the Schwäbisch-Gmünd European Church Music Days in 2010, and the SWR Vocal Ensemble received the European Choral Award of the Pro Europa Cultural Foundation in 2011 for their pioneering commitment to contemporary vocal music.
With the beginning of the 2020/2021 season, Yuval Weinberg has taken over as Principal Conductor of the SWR Vokalensemble.