Wuppertaler Kurrende

Despite of the ensemble’s relatively young history of 100 years, Wuppertaler Kurrende has advanced to be one of the most renowned boys’ choirs in Germany.

Wuppertaler Kurrende Boys’ Choir was founded in 1924 and is the oldest boys‘ choir of the Protestant Church in the Rhineland. Despite of the ensemble’s relatively young history, Wuppertaler Kurrende has advanced to be one of the leading boys’ choirs in Germany. The award-winning ensemble, in addition to its high artistic quality in concerts, also provides comprehensive musical education and intensive youth work.

With up to 60 performances annually throughout Germany, the boys‘ choir reaches thousands of listeners. Christian choral music is the musical core focus, with the repertoire ranging from the Renaissance to modern times. In addition to a cappella works of all epochs, the repertoire also includes the greatest oratorical works of Bach, Handel, Mendelssohn or Haydn.

As ambassadors of the city of Wuppertal and the Protestant Church, the choir regularly tours abroad and has recently visited France, Italy, Poland or the United States. Numerous CD productions and radio or television appearances document the work of the Wuppertaler Kurrende.

Organization

Wuppertaler Kurrende is comprised of approximately 150 boys and young men, mainly aged 6 – 25 years, who make up the SATB choir with Soprano, Alto, Tenor, and Bass voices. Every year, the choir recruits new young and talented singers, who usually join in the first years of elementary school. Individual vocal training, the offer for instrumental classes, and intensive youth-work are offered by the choir´s school that has its own campus in Wuppertal. The non-profit institution is funded by public and church subsidies, but mostly through the generosity of private donors and sponsors.

Lukas Baumann - Musical Director

Born and raised in Wuppertal, Lukas Baumann started piano lessons at the age of six. A year later, he became a member of the Wuppertaler Kurrende boys‘ choir and sang there throughout his entire school years. Starting in 2013, he worked as an assistant to the boys‘ choir conductor and conducted several concerts.

From 2016 to 2020, Lukas Baumann studied choral conducting at the Franz Liszt University of Music in Weimar with Prof. Jürgen Puschbeck. In his first semester, he became the assistant director for boys‘ choir of the Jena Philharmonic and regularlarly directed the choir at rehearsals and concerts. Further engagements led him to Suhl Boys‘ Choir, for which he worked as interim choir director in 2018, as well as Jena Philharmonic Choir and Jena Madrigal Circle. In 2019, Lukas Baumann became the interim choir director of Jena Philharmonic Boys‘ Choir for six months and led the boys‘ choir during this time.

From 2019, Baumann worked at the world-famous Windsbach Boys‘ Choir, where he directed the junior ensembles, taught vocal training, and took on various other positions as assistant for the renowned musical director Martin Lehmann until 2022.

In 2022, Lukas Baumann became the musical director of Wuppertaler Kurrende. In addition to performances in Wuppertal and Germany, first international concert tours with the Kurrende have taken him to Luxemburg, Marseille, Rome, Salzburg, Milano and Aix-en-Provence. In the current season 2024/2025, he will collaborate with famous orchestras such as Concerto Köln, Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra, Wroclaw Baroque Orchestra and Lautten Compagney Berlin.

Concert Management

Tilman Klett
Phone: +49 1520 4853461
E-Mail: [email protected]

Tilman Klett manages the organizational and administrative section of the Wuppertaler Kurrende. He is responsible for concert and performance management of all choir groups as well as PR and marketing of the institution. Additionally, he oversees fundraising and takes leadership in shaping the strategic and sustainable development of the institution.

He has been passionate about classical music since his youth and developed his passion for the cultural heritage of boys‘ choirs at the boarding school of the renowned Windsbach Boys’ Choir and through hundreds of concerts in Germany and abroad.

Please direct press inquiries and requests for the participation of the Wuppertaler Kurrende in concerts or other events to Tilman Klett.