Rundfunkchor Berlin

With around 60 concerts a year, CD recordings and international guest performances, the Rundfunkchor Berlin ranks among the world’s leading choirs. Three Grammy Awards alone attest to the quality of its recordings. Its wide-ranging repertoire, a flexible, richly nuanced sound, flawless precision and captivating delivery make this professional choir a partner to leading orchestras and conductors, including Kirill Petrenko, Daniel Barenboim, Sir Simon Rattle and Yannick Nézet-Séguin. In Berlin, the choir enjoys a close working relationship with the Berliner Philharmoniker, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin and the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, as well as their principal conductors.

The Rundfunkchor Berlin has also attracted international attention with its interdisciplinary projects, which break away from the traditional concert format and offer a fresh way of experiencing choral music. A particular milestone was the staged production of Brahms’s Requiem as "human requiem", directed by Jochen Sandig and a team from Sasha Waltz & Guests. Since its premiere in 2012, the Rundfunkchor Berlin has performed in New York, Hong Kong, Paris, Adelaide, Istanbul and Elefsina, amongst other places. In autumn 2017, with the project "LUTHER dancing with the gods", the choir reflected on Luther’s influence on the arts and within the arts in a genre-bending concert performance featuring Robert Wilson and music by Bach, Nystedt and Reich. For the interdisciplinary concert installation THE WORLD TO COME, the Rundfunkchor Berlin created a Berlin Festmesse based on Beethoven’s "Missa solemnis" in the 20/21 season. In the 23/24 season, the Rundfunkchor Berlin staged Gioachino Rossini’s "Petite Messe solennelle" with "Rote Messe". The musical theatre performance, directed by Anna-Sophie Mahler, combined Rossini’s Mass with works by Schoenberg and others in the former MaHalla industrial hall in Berlin-Oberschöneweide. In its anniversary season 24/25, the Rundfunkchor Berlin brought classical choral music together with the urban dance language of breaking for the first time in "Flying Mozart". In collaboration with the Flying Steps and the Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie, a production of Mozart’s Requiem was created which, through the use of light art and electronic music, placed the work in a modern context.

Since the 2016/17 season, the RundfunkchorLounge has been a regular feature of the programme. Held in a relaxed atmosphere at Heimathafen Neukölln, it combines choral singing, chamber music and discussions on socially relevant topics. In the 2026/27 season, the focus will be on topics such as water and how we manage this resource in times of scarcity, desire and physicality, and time and temporality.

Through its community projects for a variety of audiences – the large sing-along concert at the Berlin Philharmonie and the Liederbörse for Berlin schoolchildren – the Rundfunkchor Berlin aims to encourage as many people as possible to sing. Its wide-ranging educational programme, SING!, aims to foster long-term collaboration between various partners in order to promote singing as a natural part of everyday life in Berlin’s primary schools. Through the Academy and Schola, as well as the International Masterclass for Choral Conducting in Berlin, the ensemble is committed to supporting the next generation of professional singers and conductors.

Founded in 1925, the Rundfunkchor Berlin will celebrate over 100 years of existence in 2026. The choir has been shaped by conductors such as Helmut Koch, Dietrich Knothe, Robin Gritton and Simon Halsey. Since the 2015–16 season, Gijs Leenaars has been at the helm of the ensemble as principal conductor and artistic director. Simon Halsey remains associated with the choir as honorary conductor and guest conductor.