KÖLNER KAMMERCHOR

Kölner Kammerchor (Cologne Chamber Choir) was formed by Peter Neumann in 1970, and since winning the ŒGran Premio Città di Arezzoı in 1982 has made a name for itself in performances at major festivals in Germany, Italy, Belgium (Flanders Festival), England (BBC Proms), France, Spain, the Netherlands and Switzerland.The choir has made a number of CD recordings, including church music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and choral music of Brahms and Schumann. Such a broad repertoire, whose other focuses are the works of Monteverdi, Bach and Händel, requires different line-ups ­ with fifteen to twenty singers on any one occasion ­ and a highly differentiated artistic adjustment to the respective styles.For the Bach Year 2000, the choir has been invited to take part in Bachıs Passions in Rotterdam, Rome, Amsterdam and Fontevraud. An additional focus of the years 1999-2000 is the Cologne '20 years of Händel oratoriosı project.

COLLEGIUM CARTUSIANUM

The Collegium Cartusianum, which was formed in 1988 as the successor to the Cologne Baroque Orchestra, play on original instruments, with a repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to Mendelssohn. Not least through their participation in performing the complete masses of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the Collegium has achieved the reputation of Œbeing on a level with the leading English and Dutch ensemblesı (M. Mezger in Stereoplay). In addition to collaboration with Kölner Kammerchor (Cologne Chamber Choir) and the Cologne Kartäuserkantorei, the Collegium Cartusianum has also won international recognition with its performances of J.S. Bachıs orchestral suites, Mozartıs and Beethovenıs symphonies, and, with Andreas Steier at the fortepiano, Mozartıs piano concertos.

With Mozartıs Il Re pastore (in the Amsterdam Concertgebouw), Mendelssohnıs St Paul and Schubertıs Lazarus (at the Folle journeé Schubert in Nantes), the orchestra has extended its repertoire into opera and the romantic period.

PETER NEUMANN

Peter Neumann studied church music, conducting and the organ in Berlin and Paris. Alongside choral music of the Romantic period, the focus of his work with his two vocal ensembles, the Cologne Chamber Choir and the Kartäuserkantorei, is on Early Music, in which he has made a particular name for himself through performances of numerous oratorios by Georg Friedrich Händel ­ at festivals including the Turin Settembre Musica, the Flanders Festival and the Wratislawia Cantans ­ and the major choral works of J.S. Bach ­ for example with the B minor Mass (BWV 232) at the BBC Promenade concerts in 1993. Concert tours have taken him to almost all the countries of Europe and to Japan.Outstanding among his CD recordings are the complete masses of Mozart, and Schumannıs Missa sacra, which won the Diapason dıOr. His live recording of Händelıs Saul was widely praised in the musical press.

He has worked with such ensembles as Musica Antiqua Köln, the Capella Agostino Steffani and Concerto Köln, and has conducted the Coll