The Saar Miners' Choir
The Saar Miners' Choir is one of the most renowned and nationally known choirs in Saarland. For 70 years, the dedicated singers from the Saar have been delighting their audiences with their concerts. Through its quality and commitment, the ensemble has gradually become a choral-musical representative of the Saarland and a sympathetic figure for German mining.
At the same time, the almost 40-member ensemble symbolises how tradition can be combined with modern, progressive thinking. Rooted in mining tradition, the choir's appearance has changed significantly in recent years: from a pure miners' choir, the ensemble has become a modern concert choir that sings the entire spectrum of secular and sacred male choir literature without forgetting or even denying its origins.
The choir's versatility is revealed in its concert programmes: Works by Heinrich Schütz, Ludovico da Vittoria, Johann Kaspar Aiblinger, Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, but also by contemporaries such as Jakko Mäntyjärvi, Juha Holma, Francis Poulenc or Kaj-Erik Gustafsson show that the choir's strength and ambition lie precisely in its versatility.
The focus is clearly on a cappella music. Unusual paths, new ideas (e.g. vocal improvisations in space) and openness to new developments in male choir music (contemporary choral music) lead to programme concepts that surprise.
The diversity is completed by modern arrangements of gospels and spirituals - a genre that is rarely found in normal male choir concerts.
"The only thing in the foreground is the joint and responsible work on exciting choral music. This requires enthusiasm and passion from every single singer. That is what makes the Saarknappenchor what it is." (Matthias Rajczyk, former conductor)
More than 30 recordings, MCs and CDs, international competition successes (e.g. at the BBC Choir Competition), as well as concert tours to almost all continents of the world have earned the choir a reputation that extends beyond the borders of the Saarland.
The largest and most successful tour in its history took the ensemble to South Africa in autumn 2016, where the singing squires were enthusiastically celebrated. Numerous radio and television appearances make the Saar Squires Choir an attractive and likeable concert partner.
In spring 2018, the choir recorded the CD "Glück Auf Zukunft" together with the Bergkapelle Saar. At the end of the year, German coal mining finally came to an end!
In the same year, the choir celebrated its 70th anniversary with concerts in Gelsenkirchen-Schalke, Riegelsberg and in Losheim, there together with the Landesjugendchor Saar...
The Saar Miners' Choir has set itself the task of continuing to bring its music and the miners' tradition to all corners of the world!
In May 2020, Andreas Fulda took over the musical direction of the choir. Together with him, the Saar Miners' Choir would like to return to the stage as soon as possible!
