History
Matteus Church Choir was founded in 1906 by the cantor at the time, Carl Gentzel.
The first choir consisted of four sopranos, three altos and a few male voices.
They were all recruited from a group of Stockholm student singers where Gentzel
was the conductor.
Through the years, many of the big names within Swedish church music has been
leading the choir, among others David Ahlberg, Ragnar Althén, Jalmar Arvinder, Heimer Sjöblom
and Gunnar Julin. S:t Matteus kör,
the present name, has grown to be a large concert
and oratorio choir apart from the original mass duties. Through hard work the
choir is now one of Stockholm's well reputated concert and mass choirs. Sonny
Jansson is the conductor since the autumn of 2005.
Want to join the choir?
We sometimes have openings, and experienced singers are welcome to
apply for membership! Be prepared to learn some Swedish, but do not worry - we
have had quite a few non-Swedes in the choir over the years. Contact Sonny
Jansson 08–555 218 25 for more information and an audition.
Repertoir
The choir's repertoir is large and very varied. It concists of both sacred
and profane music. A sample from last years' productions:
- Rachmaninov: Vigilia
- W A Mozart: Requiem
- Verdi: Requiem
- Fauré: Requiem
- Duruflé: Requiem
- Puccini: Gloria
- Beethoven: Symfoni 9
- Mendelssohn: Elias, Lobgesang, Ehre sei Gott in der Höhe
- Haydn: Skapelsen
- Lars-Erik Larsson: Förklädd Gud
- Rossini: Stabat Mater
- Otto Olsson: Te Deum
- Bach: Singet
- Bach: St John Passion
Many performances are co-productions with the church's own symphony
orchestra, S:t Matteus Symfoniorkester. A
yearly attraction since 1977 is the series of Christmas concerts. During a
weekend just before Christmas about 3000 people usually come to the church to
listen. See the
list of concerts on the home page.
|