Personalities

We take a look at fascinating biographies, or report on particular aspects in the works of Bach, Mozart or Mendelssohn, Matsushita, Miškinis or Močnik. And we present the performers on our CD label, such as Frieder Bernius and the Stuttgart Kammerchor, Hans-Christoph Rademann and the Gaechinger Cantorey, and Calmus Ensemble. As well as this, you will get to meet our editors who report on their editions published by Carus - all true experts of choral music.

It All Started with Handel…

11.06.2025/0 Comments/in Music stories, Personalities /by Barbara Mohn

Georg Frideric Handel is the creator of the English oratorio. When he first staged his Esther as a religious drama without scenic action at the King’s Theatre in London in 1732, it marked the beginning of an unparalleled success story. Opera audiences were so enthusiastic about the new genre that from that time onwards Handel, who was not only a composer but also a theater manager, filled his opera houses with oratorios based on biblical themes. Performances of the Messiah and later of other oratorios too for charitable purposes were one of the central driving forces behind the development of the great music festivals that were held from the early eighteenth century onwards.

6 Questions for Victoria Polevá

06.06.2025/0 Comments/in Personalities /by Victoria Poleva

I find inspiration in the very concept that humans can create music.

4 Questions for Mårten Jansson

11.05.2025/0 Comments/in Personalities /by Mårten Jansson

If I only can pick one I do believe I need to pick when I first heard Claude Debussy’s Trois nocturnes for the first time. It was such an eye opener for me. I had never heard music composed in that way before.

6 Questions for Dominick diOrio

17.04.2025/0 Comments/in Personalities /by Dominick diOrio

I had the chance to prepare the three choruses for Penderecki’s St. Luke Passion at Indiana University when Penderecki himself came to visit in 2017.

6 Questions for Keiko Harada

16.04.2025/0 Comments/in Personalities /by Keiko Harada

In my childhood I was strongly inspired by Debussy’s piano works and also visually by Michio Mamiya’s Score of Piano Sonata No.2, then in and after my late teens by Lachenmann, Ligeti, Kurtag, Webern and Aperghis.

6 Questions for Lucia Birzer

11.04.2025/0 Comments/in Personalities /by Lucia Birzer

I find Lili Boulanger particularly inspiring, because she created such beautiful music in her short life, Igor Stravinsky for his colors, and in opera or music theater particularly Mozart and Verdi – you can learn simply everything from them.

6 Questions for Nicholas Kok

26.03.2025/0 Comments/in Personalities /by Nicholas Kok

I wrote a pop song when I was 12, called ‘Fire’. I remember that it was in C major and that the music, which was heavily influenced by Elton John, was better than the lyrics, which were shocking!

Fanny Hensel’s songs as a mirror of her life

04.02.2025/0 Comments/in Personalities /by Lorenz Adamer

Caught between artistic aspirations and social pressures: In the 1830s and 1840s, Fanny Hensel composed a large number of songs. The compositions bear witness to her musical maturity and stylistic diversity. However, these years were not only a time of artistic creativity, but also personal difficulties.

Our Dream Concert

20.01.2025/0 Comments/in Choral works in focus, Personalities /by Blog-Team Carus-Verlag

Any jubilee, whether a birthday or the anniversary of someone’s death or even a premiere, is always a great opportunity to spotlight a particular work. We asked around at Carus to find out what our colleagues would like to play and sing in their choirs in the coming years. Perhaps you can borrow one or two of their ideas!

6 Questions for Stephan Görg

14.01.2025/0 Comments/in Personalities /by Stephan Görg

My most emotional experience was putting together my first concert with Vocal Journey (the jazz and pop choir of the Cologne University of Music and Dance) and my band after the pandemic in the Cologne Philharmonic Hall, as conductor, composer, arranger and pianist!