Join us

We are an amateur choir working to a high standard. Our rehearsals are in German. After a number of rehearsals we invite interested singers to an informal audition with our Musical Director Barbara Höfling. During our rehearsals we focus on expression, language and historically sensitive interpretation.

We give our members the opportunity to develop their vocal strengths and skills through vocal training sessions run by Barbara Höfling and guest coaches. For members interested in solo performances and greater exposure, we run solo ensembles.

The choir provides members with a friendly social circle. Over the years, many friendships have been formed and the odd couples too. After rehearsals, you can find several members making their way to the pub to socialise. We have a lot of fun!

We sometimes take trips abroad for performances or social choir retreats.

We look forward to hearing from you!

The Choir

In the beginning

In 2009, a small group of music enthusiasts started coming together regularly to sing at services of the Deutsche Ev. Christuskirche in Knightsbridge. On the initiative of Barbara Höfling, this group became a permanent ensemble.  

Over ten years on, we are a diverse, international choir of around 60 singers, with a wide-ranging repertoire and a busy performance schedule. The choir has attracted the attention of both German and UK television and has been featured in the musical press.

What we sing

The German choral masterpieces of the 17th to late 19th centuries (Schütz, Bach, Haydn, Brahms, Mendelssohn and many more) form the heart of our repertoire. We also perform classical choral music from outside the Austro-German tradition including British, Italian and US composers. 

Contemporary music is an important part of what we do. We regularly perform new works, some of them specially commissioned for us.

We have a long tradition of collaboration with other choirs and ensembles for our CDs, concerts and services. They include the choirs of King’s College Cambridge and St-Martin-in-the-Fields, the German Choir Paris, the UK Parliament Choir, Canterbury Cathedral Choir, Coventry Cathedral Choir, and the choirs of many of the different Lutheran congregations in London for the 500th anniversary of the Reformation in 2017.

Making music with a meaning

With inventiveness and drive, Barbara Höfling ensures that we don’t simply perform pieces in isolation – beautiful as they may be – but that we use music to make our audience think about topics and events of social and historic importance. We regularly raise funds for charity as well as awareness of issues we care about. Some of our past projects are:

Blessed are the Peacemakers: For the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day in 2018, we went on a tour of ten cathedrals around the UK and travelled to Ypres and Brussels to sing war poetry set to music by Orlando Gough. Under the title “Blessed are the Peacemakers” we commemorated those who worked for peace in times of war.

A European celebration: As the UK prepared to leave the European Union in 2019, we celebrated the power of music to cross borders by staging a concert featuring 28 pieces in many of the European languages.

Corona Commissions: As the Corona virus hit the UK, we fundraised to commission 10 composers who had their livelihood threatened by the pandemic to write new choral pieces for us. Eight Corona Commissions are on the topic of fear, as well as arrangements of two German Christmas carols. 

Voices against Violence: During COVID-related lockdowns, domestic violence increased in the UK. We used our voices to produce an awareness clip for social media, in collaboration with composer Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres, producer Aaron Trinder, and professionals working with victims of domestic violence. This initiative was commissioned by the German Embassy London and Goethe Institute London.

Voices.Europe: With challenges such as isolation, restrictions on movement, and social distancing requirements in mind, Michael Langemann has created his Voices.Europe composition as a sound event consisting of five modules in various languages. Over 180 singers from amateur choirs from Rome, London, and Paris recorded this cooperation between the Goethe-Institut London, Paris, Rome and the Ars.Electronica Festival.

Sophie Scholl Passion: The concert told the story of Sophie Scholl, confined in Stadelheim Prison, Munich in the period before her death, through an original libretto created by playwright Ross McGregor, by combining letters, newspaper articles, the White Rose leaflets and court protocols with the music of J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion. This new interpretation was performed with the German Choir of London and Coventry Cathedral Choir in Southwark Cathedral and Coventry Cathedral. A centenary later we remember that the courage of Sophie Scholl and her fellow conspirators is an inspiration through time, a reminder that fighting injustice, fighting against systems which are wrong, even against the greatest odds, is truly a message of our time.

Where we sing

The diversity of our performance venues is something we are proud of.

Undoubtedly, we reached the pinnacle of grandeur in terms of performance venues when we sang during Sunday Mass in St Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican in 2021 – a true honour.

We have also taken part in services at St Paul’s Cathedral, St-Martin-in-the-Fields, King’s College Chapel, Cambridge, and Westminster Abbey, as well as performing in a number of beautiful London churches and in the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace. Trips abroad have taken us to Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, Brussels Cathedral, to Ypres and Conques. 

The choir retains a strong link with its place of origin, the Deutsche Ev. Christuskirche in Knightsbridge. We sing at a couple of church services during the year, as well as rehearsing there. 

The Musical Director: Barbara Höfling

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