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50 years of Excellence in choral music. Impressions from our jubilee celebration on June 3, 2022

Everyone knows that landmarks should be celebrated as they come. And for Carus there is a truly special reason to celebrate in 2022: the publishing house is turning 50!

In 1972, Günter Graulich and his wife Waltraud Graulich founded Carus-Verlag and as their first edition they published Antonio Vivaldi’s Gloria in D RV 589 for choir and orchestra. This had practical reasons – as a choral director, Günter Graulich wanted to perform the work with his choir, but could not find a convincing edition of the music. Today, the Carus catalog includes some 45,000 predominantly vocal works, alongside books, CDs and apps, but the “Gloria” has remained a bestseller.

On June 3, 2022, a celebratory concert with the Kammerchor Stuttgart conducted by Frieder Bernius kicked off the anniversary celebration at the Stuttgart Musikhochschule. A honorary speech by Professor Christoph Wolff and a panel discussion on the current state of choral music followed. A quodlibet sung together with all the guests rounded off the event.

 

Kammerchor Stuttgart – The jubilee concert performed by the Kammerchor Stuttgart under the direction of Frieder Bernius included choral works that have significantly influenced the publishing house’s development – from Bach, through Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Rheinberger, to transcriptions by Clytus Gottwald. (Photo © Sven Cichowicz)

Laudatio – The honorary speech was given by the renowned Bach researcher Prof. Dr. Dr. mult. Christoph Wolff (Harvard University), who has been associated with Carus-Verlag for many years as an editor and, in his function as director of the Leipzig Bach Archive, as a cooperative partner. (Photo © Sven Cichowicz)

Panel discussion – Despite the festive occasion, the current difficulties faced by the choral music scene were not overlooked. In a panel discussion, Christian Wulff (former Federal President and President of the German Choral Association), Prof. Dr. Kathrin Schlemmer (Director of the ChoCo Study 2021 and 2022), Prof. Dr. Klaus K. Weigele (Director of the Landesmusikakademie Ochsenhausen), Prof. Jan Schumacher (choral conductor and Vice President of the International Choral Federation IFCM) and Dr. Johannes Graulich (Managing Shareholder and Publisher at Carus) discussed the current situation for the choral music scene following more than two years of the pandemic. The SWR2 presenter Sabine Fallenstein moderated the discussion. (Photo © Sven Cichowicz)

Birthday serenade from the next generation: singers of the Ulmer Spatzen Choir conducted by Hans de Gilde, accompanied by Barbara Comes on the piano. (Photo © Sven Cichowicz)

Quodlibet –  Just listening comfortably is not enough! Under the direction of chorissimo! editor Klaus Brecht the whole hall sang a peace quodlibet. (Photo © Sven Cichowicz)

Party at the publishing house – After the official event at the Musikhochschule, further celebrations continued at the publishing house premises in Leinfelden-Echterdingen…