Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus

The Choir



Choir singing as a profession

The Vienna State Opera Chorus is composed of ninety-two solidly engaged professional singers and build up one of the most important cornerstones of the Vienna State Opera along with the soloists, orchestra and ballet.

Annually, since 1923, the choir also additionally participates at the Salzburg Festival. Therefore the Concert Association (CA) performs up to fifty-five different operas on almost every night of the year. Other than that, there are numerous CD-recordings and concerts on the program.

Outside of the Vienna State Opera House the choir performs as the "Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus". This name expresses that the choir is not only capable of singing extended opera literature, but also a wide variety of concert repertoire.

The Benifit-Gala of the Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus at their 75th anniversary in the State Opera in 2002 (photo: Zeininger).
Photo (high resolution): 4200x750px, 1.7MB-»

Ladies Choir (15+10+10+11=46)

SOPRAN I
Maria Bierbaumer, Amy-Linda Domaracki, Krisztina Exner, Renate Gutsch, Jung-Won Han-Gallaun, Erica Hathazi, Renate Hecht, Kyoko Hedenborg, Irene Hofmann, Secil Ilker, Maria Karrer, Claudia Köck, Wilma Maller, Silvia Panzenböck, Ingrid Vadehra.

SOPRAN II
Hannelore Auer, Anna-Maria Birnbauer, Denisa Danielova, Maria Gusenleitner, Regina Knauer, Kaya-Maria Last, Soyeon Lee, Martina Reder, Felicitas Thyringer, Elisabeth Van der Vloedt.

ALT I
Ulrike Erfurt, Senta Fischer, Isabel Leibnitz, Eliza Marian-Zurmann, Jozefina Monarcha, Barbara Reiter, Marianne Sattmann, Claudia Stifter, Zsuzsanna Szabo, Karin Wieser.

ALT II
Hyun-Sook Back, Gabriella Bessenyei, Heidrun Götz, Arina Holecek, Sabine Kogler, Martina Parzer, Evelyn Saul, Karen Schubert, Eva Schweiger, Elisabeth Strenn, Daniela Wagner.

Mens Choir (12+11+11+12=46)

TENOR I
Peter Fraiss, Ulrich Grossrubatscher, Burkhard Höft, Wolfgang Holzherr, Jacek Krzyszkowski, Roman Lauder, Hakki Özpinar, Taner Orhan, Andre-Leon Potgieter, Zsolt Temes, Roland Winkler, Oleg Zalytskiy.

TENOR II
Wolfram Derntl, Franz Gruber, Levente Hara, Meng-Chieh Ho, Michael Knapp, Thomas Köber, Dritan Luca, Martin Müller, Fritz Peschke, Gottfried Stifter, Gerhard Reiterer.

BASS I
Hacik Bayvertian, Wolfgang Equiluz, Johannes Gisser, Konrad Huber, Hiroyuki Ijichi, Jeong-Ho Kim, Hannes Lichtenberger, Karl Nebenführ, Fritz Springer, Florian Tomaschitz, Michael Wilder.

BASS II
Liviu Burz, Michael Kuchar, Csaba Markovits, Jens Musger, Jaroslav Pehal, Ferdinand Pfeiffer, Dominik Rieger, Wataru Sano, Oleg Savran, Mario Steller, Hermann Thyringer, Ion Tibrea.

Committee Members

The four committee members of the Concert Association (executive director, business-manager, treasurer and secretary) are elected by the choir.

The present committee members of the Concert Association: executive director Dr. Eliza Marian- Zurmann, business-manager Michael Knapp, secretary Mag. Jens Musger and treasurer Mag. Annamaria Birnbauer (from left to right).

Voicegroup-Representatives

Additionally to the four main committee members, each voicegroup elects a representative to represent their needs. Presently these are:

1st Tenor: Roland Winkler
2nd Tenor: Franz Gruber
1st Bass: Karl Nebenführ
2nd Bass: Csaba Markovits

Former Committee Members

Executive directors from 1927 to 1974:

1960-1962: Norbert Balatsch
1962-1963: Kurt Bernhard
1963-1967: Dr. Rudolf Zimmer
1967-1968: Rudolf Kreuzberger
1968-1974: Rudolf Resch

Since 1974 reorganization (Executive Director & Business Manager):

1974-1979: Karl Neugebauer & Prof. Helmut Pilss
1979-1988: Prof. Helmut Pilss & Wolfgang Scheider
1988-1999: Prof. Walter Zeh & Wolfgang Scheider
1999-2000: Wolfgang Peschel & Nick van Huyssteen
2000-2001: Nick van Huyssteen & Ferdinand Pfeiffer
2001-2002: Nick van Huyssteen & Dr. Ulrich Großrubatscher
2002-2005: Daniela Wagner & Dr. Ulrich Großrubatscher
2005-2007: Michael Knapp & Dr. Ulrich Großrubatscher
2007-2010: Dr. Eliza Marian- Zurmann & Levente Hara
since 2010: Dr. Eliza Marian- Zurmann & Michael Knapp

"Dropouts"

Many an important career had its beginning in the State Opera Choir. Some of them are mentioned here:

From left to right:

Prof. Norbert Balatsch was originally baritone in the choir, many years executive director of the CA, afterwards chorus-master of the Vienna State Opera and finally chorus-master in Bayreuth.

Kammersänger Prof. Kurt Equiluz started the first seven years of his career as a tenor in the State Opera Chorus, was then engaged as a soloist at the State Opera and became one of the leading interpreters of Lied and Oratorio.

Silvana Dussmann also changed from choir singing to soloist, to follow in the footsteps of Edita Gruberova.

Kammersänger Wilhelm Eyberg von Wertenegg was a two-year-member of the choir before making a career in Germany.

Prof. Fritz Peschke worked his way up from tenor to President of the Union "Art, Media and Independent Professions".

The bearers of the Clemens Krauss Medal

Personalities that show particular commitment are awarded prizes by the Concert Association since 1977 in form of the "Clemens Krauss Medal" in Gold, Silver and Bronze.

1987 Carlo Maria Giulini (G)
1987 Prof. Wilfried Scheib (S)
1988 Prof. Eric Ericson (S)
1988 Prof. Heinrich Hollreiser (S)
1990 Wiener Symphoniker (S)
1991 Claudio Abbado (G)
1992 Wiener Philharmoniker (S)
1992 Sir Georg Solti (G)
1994 Dr. Gerard Mortier (S)
1995 Ioan Holender (S)
1997 Maria Diebl (B)
2006 Riccardo Muti (G)
2006 Leo Nucci (S)
2007 Prof. Ernst Dunshirn (B)
2011 Helga Rabl- Stadler (S)


2006: Former executive director Michael Knapp (right) presents Riccardo Muti with the golden Clemens Krauss Medal.

Concert-Directors

Since the foundation-year 1927, the CA always nominates a renowned conductor as its concert-director. Presently this is Seiji Ozawa (since 2002).

Josef Krips: 1945-1947
Clemens Krauss: 1949-1954
Karl Böhm: 1954-1981
Claudio Abbado: 1987-2002
Seiji Ozawa: seit 2002