The SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart
with its 33 singers, is considered one of the leading international ensembles for 20th century and contemporary vocal music. It first appeared at the Donaueschingen Festival in 1947. In 1951, their new chief conductor Hermann Joseph Dahmen began to significantly promote the choir’s specialization in contemporary vocal music. With its subsequent chief conductors Marinus Voorberg (1975–1981), Klaus-Martin Ziegler (1981– 1987) and Rupert Huber (1990–2000), the SWR Vokalensemble attained an international reputation as an ensemble for new music. Marcus Creed has been the chief conductor since 2003. Under his direction, the SWR Vokalensemble founded its first own concert series in Stuttgart. The CD productions recorded under Marcus Creed’s baton have won significant awards. They include practically unknown works by Charles Ives, Elliott Carter and Heitor Villa-Lobos. For its production of Bruckner’s E minor Mass and a selection of motets, the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart was named “Ensemble of the Year” in 2009. In 2011 and 2012 they were awarded the Echo Classic Prize for the “Choral Production of the Year” (2011: Heitor Villa- Lobos, Choral Works; 2012: György Ligeti, Requiem). Furthermore, the ensemble was awarded the “European Choir Prize” by the Pro Europa Foundation for Culture for its pioneering efforts on behalf of contemporary vocal music.

Frieder Bernius
work has earned great worldwide recognition. He is in demand internationally as a conductor and as a teacher. His principal artistic collaborators are the ensembles he founded himself, the Kammerchor Stuttgart, the Barockorchester Stuttgart, the Hofkapelle Stuttgart and the Klassische Philharmonie Stuttgart. As a guest conductor, he has collaborated repeatedly with, for example, the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Stuttgarter Kammerorchester and the Streicherakademie Bozen. Great stylistic versatility is Frieder Bernius’s hallmark. Whether he conducts vocal works by Monteverdi, Bach, Händel, Mozart, Beethoven, Fauré and Ligeti, stage music by Mendelssohn or symphonies by Haydn, Burgmüller and Schubert, his work always aims for a sound that is at once unmistakably personal and at the same time oriented towards the original period sound ideal. He devotes himself equally to the rediscovery of 18th century operas and to first performances of contemporary compositions. He is particularly interested in the musical history of southwestern Germany. Carus-Verlag has awarded Frieder Bernius a Golden CD for his complete recording of the sacred music of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. The award was presented to him during the German Choir Festival in Stuttgart 2016. The sale of over 250,000 recordings, which has been acclaimed with a number of awards, has made a not insignificant contribution to what today is the obvious presence of Mendelssohn's complete œuvre in the concert repertoire.