Virtuoso choral music by Biber and Kerll

Johann Kaspar Kerll 1627-1693
Missa in fletu solatium obsidionis Viennensis (1689)

Heinrich Ignaz Franz von Biber 1644-1704
Psalmi de B. M. Virgine – first performance in Baden-Württemberg
from: Vesperae longiores ac breviores una cum litaniis Lauretanis (1693)

Simone Schwark, soprano
Alexander Schneider, alto
David Munderloh, tenor
Eric Price, tenor
Dominik Wörner, bass
CANTUS STUTTGART
BACHORCHESTER STUTTGART
Jörg-Hannes Hahn, conductor

Introduction 7.30pm: Andrea Braun

Tickets at €20-30 (reductions of -50% for Cat. II-IV) via +49 (0)711/2 555 555, www.bachchor.com and at the box office

In 1683, the city of Vienna was besieged by the Ottoman army. Johann Kaspar Kerll witnessed the fears and horrors of those weeks and, overwhelmed by his experiences, composed his “Mass for Comfort in the Lamentation over the Siege of Vienna”—an extraordinary musical testimony to the war. A few years later, Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber published his Vesper compositions in honor of the Virgin Mary—intimate yet grandiose works that showcase the Salzburg court Kapellmeister at the height of his creative power. Neither work has ever been performed in Baden-Württemberg.

Joachim Raff 1822-1882
Dornröschen – First revival of the opera-oratorio for 170 years

Katinka Bohse Meyer, Sleeping Beauty
Linda Bennett, Water Fairy
Lars Tappert, Narrator
Gustav Wenzel Most, Count
Matthias Lika, Baritone
Lukas Krimmel, Baritone

Bachchor Stuttgart
WÜRTTEMBERG PHILHARMONIC REUTLINGEN
Jörg-Hannes Hahn, conductor

Introduction 6.15pm: Volker Tosta

Tickets at €20-44 (reductions of -50% for Cat. II-IV) via +49 (0)711/2 555 555, www.bachchor.com and at the box office

Recording by

With the kind support of Baden-Württemberg-Stiftung

Joachim Raff’s »Dornröschen« did not just wait for a hundred years, but much longer to be kissed awake. During his lifetime, its composer was one of the most sought-after in Germany. Contemporaries ranked him along with Wagner and Brahms. In 1856 his fairy tale epic to a text by Wilhelm Genast was premiered with tableaux vivants at the Weimar Court Theatre, but after that, it fell into oblivion, like Raff himself. Now there is an opportunity to experience the work again for the first time in its complete form.

Detlef Heusinger b. 1956
The Foundlinghouse – first performance

Inga Schäfer, Alma Unseld, soprano
Doron Schleifer, countertenor
Lorenz Kauffer, baritone
FREIBURG CATHEDRAL GIRLS’ CHOIR
BACHORCHESTER STUTTGART
Detlef Heusinger, stage direction
Jörg-Hannes Hahn, conductor

Introduction 7.30pm: Detlef Heusinger

Admission free, donations welcome

Recording by

This is how it might sound if Handel’s music reaches the present day by magic. Composer Detlef Heusinger imagines a benefit concert tour by the Baroque master through the Germany of today. In aid of the first London foundling hospital, which Handel historically supported energetically, he now performs his oratorio “The Triumph of Time and Truth” together with the orphans. Whilst a narrator explains the scenes, the music goes more and more off the rails until it finally arrives in the present day.

Johann Sebastian Bach 1685-1750
Der Geist hilft unser Schwachheit auf BWV 226
Komm, Jesu, komm BWV 229
Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied BWV 225

Willibald Bezler 1942-2018
Ihr Völker alle, klatscht in die Hände – Psalm 47

CANTUS STUTTGART
Rüdiger Kurz, violone
Tim Krüger, organ
Jörg-Hannes Hahn, conductor

Introduction 7.30pm: Dr. Ute Harbusch

Admission free, donations welcome

Further concerts:
Friday 10 July 2026, 8pm, Stiftskirche Herrenberg
Saturday 11 July 2026, 7pm, Stadtkirche Ravensburg
Sunday 12 July 2026, 11.30am, St. Johann Schaffhausen

The motets of Johann Sebastian Bach sound so artistic and magnificent, indeed they radiate joy! You could almost forget that they were composed for funerals and memorial services. The Kammerchor Cantus Stuttgart shows its artistry in three of the great motets, these incomparable vocal works written with great virtuosity in up to eight parts. These are complemented by Willibald Bezler’s setting of Psalm 47 from 2002. Like the Bach works, this also praises God’s greatness in joyful sounds.

“O sing unto the Lord!” – vocal music by Heinrich Schütz, Felix Mendelssohn, Johannes Brahms and others

Ludwig Böhme, conductor

Tickets at €20-30 (reductions of -50% for Cat. II-IV) via +49 (0)711/2 555 555, www.bachchor.com and at the box office

The Windsbach Boys’ Choir celebrates its 80th anniversary this year. The talented young singers, ranging from 9 to 19 years old, give one of their much sought-after concerts in Bad Cannstatt. The choir’s main musical focus is on sacred music from the Renaissance to the modern. Annual concert tours take the Windsbach singers to other European countries, and to Israel, North and South America, Australia and the Far East. The “little provincial choir” has developed into one of the most highly-regarded boys’ choirs in the world.

Fanny Hensel 1805-1847
“O, that I had a thousand voices” for soprano and organ
“On the Feast of St. Cecilia” for soloists, chorus and organ

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy 1809-1847
Te Deum laudamus WoO 29
Sonata in A major for organ op. 65, no. 3
“Hear my prayer” for soprano, choir and organ

Vocal soloists from the High School of Music Stuttgart
BACHCHOR STUTTGART
Benedikt Engel, guest conductor

Admission free, donations welcome

»Incidentally, it is nice that our ideas remain so close to each other«, wrote Felix Mendelssohn to his beloved sister Fanny Hensel. Both grew up as musical child prodigies and throughout their lives were mutually involved in each other’s musical creations – even if the sister gave her brother more support and recognition than vice versa. The Bachchor Stuttgart’s summer concert juxtaposes sacred compositions for solo voice, chorus and organ by the two famous siblings.

Max Reger 1873-1916
The major free organ works

Fantasia and Fugue on B-A-C-H op. 46
Symphonic Fantasia and Fugue op. 57
Second Sonata in D minor op. 60
Variations and Fugue in F sharp minor on an Original Theme op. 73
Introduction, Passacaglia and Fugue in E minor op. 127
Fantasia and Fugue in D minor op. 135b

Admission free, donations welcome

»I do not believe that human fingers can play your works and human ears can sustain it.« This opinion by a contemporary may only be anecdotal, but it shows how novel and bold Max Reger’s organ compositions were perceived to be. The “Summer! Organ” cycle with international guests is devoted this year to the major free organ works of Reger. Their expressivity and incredible colourfulness show off the Walcker organ, rebuilt by Kopetzki, in the Stadtkirche Bad Cannstatt to the full.