Conductor - Johannes Prinz

The Singverein of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (Society of the Friends of Music) in Vienna, known as the Wiener Singverein, has been one of the leading concert choirs in the international music scene for almost one and a half centuries. Founded in 1858 as a daughter society of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, the Singverein, in the course of its long history, has given first performances of key works in the choir repertoire – for example, the “German Requiem” by Johannes Brahms (first public part performance 1867), Bruckner’s “Te Deum”, Mahler’s 8th Symphony and Franz Schmidt’s oratorio “The Book with Seven Seals”.

From its foundation on, the choir was partnered by the most important conductors of the era – among them Johannes Brahms, who, as concert director of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, was also artistic director and choir master of the Singverein, Franz Schalk, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Karl Böhm, Leonard Bernstein and Herbert von Karajan. At present, the choir regularly works with such conductors as Daniel Barenboim, Bertrand de Billy, Vladimir Fedosejev, Valery Gergiev, Mariss Jansons, Ton Koopman, Fabio Luisi, Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Seiji Osawa, Georges Prêtre, Sir Simon Rattle, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Franz Welser-Möst.

The artistic home of the choir is the Wiener Musikverein and it plays an important part in the concert life of the Musikverein through its diverse commitments. Furthermore, the Wiener Singverein is also regularly invited to give international guest performances.
The extensive discography of the Wiener Singverein was recently increased by recordings achieving international awards. A new recording of Mahler’s 3rd Symphony with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Pierre Boulez won a Grammy in 2004. A CD-production of Schmidt’s “Book with Seven Seals”, recording the first cooperation of the Singverein with Nikolaus Harnoncourt, was nominated for the Cannes Classical Award 2002.

Choir master Johannes Prinz has shaped the work of the Wiener Singverein since 1991. Prinz studied at the University for Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, attended choir conducting courses by Erwin Ortner and made his name as choir conductor among others with the W.U.Chor Vienna (1982-1992), the Chamber Choir of the Music College (now university) of Vienna (1988-1998) and the Vienna Chamber Choir (1995-2007). He became Professor for Choir Conducting at the University for Music in Graz in 2000.

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