Himlische Cantorey

Founded in Hamburg, the Himlische Cantorey has become one of Germany’s most highly regarded exponents of historical performance practices. The ensemble’s work is formed by intensive study of Renaissance and Baroque music and texts as well as ist commitment to a sound culture of exceptional precision and beauty.
The members of the Himlische Cantorey are not merely experienced ensemble singers, but are all established and renowned vocal soloists which provides an added dimension of individually distinguishable voices supporting the overall homogenous choral effect. This enables the ensemble to offer an unusually wide-ranging repertoire. The Himlische Cantorey are just at home with virtuoso Madrigals, religious Concertos of the early Baroque period or the melding sounds of Renaissance Motets. As a perfectly harmonized group of soloists, they have just as great a command of Baroque and Classical Oratorio as they do of works by contemporary composers.
A busy concert schedule has already taken the Himlische Cantorey not only to renowned festivals such as the Bachfest Leipzig and the Göttinger Händel-Festspiele but also to venues in France, Italy, Luxemburg and Austria where the ensemble performed at the Vienna Musikverein. The ensemble has also been engaged by orchestras such as the Staatskapelle Berlin and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin for combined projects. Its performances are broadcast on radio stations such as NDR, Bayerischer Rundfunk and Radio Bremen and its discography includes CDs for labels such as CPO, Naxos and Rondeau Production.
The Himlische Cantorey owes its name to a collection of Psalm settings published in Hamburg in 1604. The Psalms were the work of Jacob and Hieronymus Praetorius, Joachim Decker and David Scheidemann, all of whom were church musicians of renown in the city of Hamburg. For the highly accomplished vocalists of the Himlische Cantorey, the idea of heaven as a host of angelic musicians playing a musica caelestis has proved an inexhaustible source of inspiration – as for the musicians of the Renaissance and Baroque periods – for their study and performance of a repertoire that includes both sacred and secular compositions.