JOHANNES-PASSION

With the decision to have its own baroque orchestra and a choir put together according to practical performance criteria, the Bachakademie has embarked on a new path. The sound foundation and internationally unique selling point of this new approach is the replica of an original chest organ from the organ workshop of Bach's legendary contemporary Gottfried Silbermann, which was discovered in Seerhausen, Saxony, in 2013 and embodies the ideal center of the newly formed ensembles as a faithful exhibit of baroque sound concepts.

The ensemble's first successful steps towards the new "Stuttgart Bach style" were performances in 2017 at the Musikfest Stuttgart, the Bachwoche Ansbach, the Festspiele Europäische Wochen Passau, the Rheingau Music Festival, the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden and six concerts as part of a tour of the USA in Fort Lauderdale, Chapel Hill, Norfolk, Princeton, Los Angeles and Irvine. In 2018, the musicians of the Gaechinger Cantorey have already performed at the Dresden Kulturpalast, the Bachkirche Arnstadt and the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris. In May 2018, a tour with six concerts took them to South America, and in June they made a highly successful appearance at the Leipzig Bach Festival as participants in a prominent "Cantata Ring" (with Masaaki Suzuki, Ton Koopman and Sir John Eliot Gardiner, among others).

The debut CD by the newly formed Gaechinger Cantorey Erhalt uns, Herr, bei Deinem Wort with Reformation cantatas by J.S. Bach was released by Stuttgart-based Carus-Verlag in May 2017. The critics were enthusiastic: "The Gaechinger Cantorey, with its new line-up and orientation, is right at the top of the German baroque ensemble scene." (kulturradio des rbb)

Following the new recording of Bach's Christmas Oratorio, which was released in October 2018, two further CD releases with the Gaechinger Cantorey and Hans-Christoph Rademann came onto the market in April 2019: a programme with Bach cantatas (from the Stadtkirche St. Wenzel with the original Hildebrandt organ) on accentus music, as well as Handel's Utrecht Te Deum and Jubilate on Stuttgart-based Carus-Verlag. A recording of the rarely performed fourth version of Bach's St. John Passion is planned for summer 2019 as part of the Ansbach Bach Week.

During his studies, he founded the Dresdner Kammerchor and formed it into a top international choir, which is still under his direction today. Impressive proof of the quality of this artistic collaboration is the acclaimed recording of the complete works of Heinrich Schütz by Stuttgart-based Carus-Verlag, which will be completed in 2018.

Hans-Christoph Rademann works with leading choirs and ensembles on the international concert scene. From 1999 to 2004 he was chief conductor of the NDR Choir and from 2007 to 2015 chief conductor of the RIAS Chamber Choir. Regular guest conducting engagements have taken him to the Collegium Vocale Gent, the Akademie für Alte Musik, the Freiburger Barockorchester, Concerto Köln, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, etc. Since June 2013, Hans-Christoph Rademann has been the Academy Director of the International Bach Academy Stuttgart.

Hans-Christoph Rademann has been awarded prizes and honors for his artistic work, including the Johann Walter Plaque of the Saxon Music Council (2014), the Saxon Constitutional Medal (2008), the Promotion Prize and the Art Prize of the State Capital of Dresden (1994 and 2014 respectively). He has received the German Record Critics' Award several times for his numerous CD recordings (most recently in 2016) as well as the Grand Prix du Disque (2002), the Diapason d'Or (2006 & 2011), the CHOC de l'année 2011, the Best Baroque Vocal Award 2014. He was also awarded the European Church Music Prize of the city of Schwäbisch Gmünd in 2016.

His recording of a danced production of Bach's St. Matthew Passion (choreography: Friederike Rademann) with the Gaechinger Cantorey, selected soloists and around one hundred students from the Stuttgart region and Minden, which was released on DVD by the Accentus Music label in October 2017, was nominated for the International Classical Music Awards 2018.

In September 2018, Hans-Christoph Rademann was awarded the newly endowed International Heinrich Schütz Prize for his exemplary interpretation and recording of the complete works of Heinrich Schütz.
Hans-Christoph Rademann is Professor of Choral Conducting at the Carl Maria von Weber Academy of Music in Dresden. He is also the artistic director of the Erzgebirge Music Festival, an ambassador for the Erzgebirge and patron of the Christian Hospice Service Dresden.