Light

A Christmas and Hanukkah concert

Sing-Akademie zu Berlin
Junior groups of the girls' choir

Text from the program booklet

Light in the darkness - that is our message this year. For all of us, whether Christian or Jewish, Muslim or atheist socialized, a light in the darkness means: it gives hope, warmth and closeness. The desire for peace unites the religions in a small shining flame. With this program, we want to pay tribute to religious diversity and make performers and audiences more familiar with it.

In December, the darkest time of the year for us, there are two great festivals of light: Advent/Christmas and Hanukkah. With songs for both festivals, we would like to experience the similarities of these days in sound. Advent and Christmas carols resound together with songs for Hanukkah and songs from former socialist countries. This is not least a reminder of the values of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin, which was founded in 1791 as an interdenominational "art association for sacred music". In our concert you can experience the youngest members of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin - the singers of the Girls' Choir I, II, III and the Girls' Choir "Charlotte".

We cordially invite you to engage with the music of different cultures with childlike curiosity and openness.
Girls' Choir of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin

The Girls' Choir of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin was founded in 2006 and since then has given children and young women between the ages of 5 and 22 the opportunity to work on challenging literature for equal voices and to receive musical training. Around 180 girls currently sing in the choir's five training levels. Teaching music of all styles and eras and developing new concert formats are particularly important to the choir. In 2017, the choir won a silver medal in the Grand Prix of Nations in the Berlin Philharmonie. In 2018, it took part in the German Choir Competition with outstanding success and won 2nd prize. In May 2023, the choir took part in the renowned International Chamber Choir Competition in Marktoberdorf and was awarded the rating "International very good". At the German Choir Competition 2023, the concert choir and the girls' choir III (preliminary choir) were awarded second and third prize in their category.

Concert tours have taken the choir to Denmark, Iceland, Spain, Switzerland, China, Norway and most recently France. The Sing-Akademie girls' choir is a sought-after partner of Berlin's cultural institutions and has performed children's and women's choir roles in major works such as The Nutcracker and Gustav Mahler's Symphony No. 3 at the Deutsche Oper, the Berlin University of the Arts and the Philharmonie Berlin, among others.
The junior groups now play a major role within the girls' choir: In the groups Mädchenchor I, II, III and Mädchenchor Charlotte, which build on each other, the young singers are between 7 and 13 years old and are already junior members of the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin. The very youngest make their first musical and singing experiences in the basic level courses and together with their parents in the Kangaroo course.
You can find more information at: www.sing-akademie.de

Written by Cornelia Schlemmer
More informations by www.sing-akademie.de/

Cast & Crew

Director of photography
André Fuchs, Fabian Bechtle
Original Score
Kelley Sundin-Donig (Musikalische Leitung), Cornelia Schlemmer (Oboe), Tobias Bromman (Klavier), Friederike Stahmer (Geige), Julia Kursawe (Cello), Avitall Gerstetter (Gesang)