Ensembles at the hmt

The hmt offers numerous opportunities for students to work together in ensembles. Besides the college orchestra and college choir, there is for example the chamber choir "Vocalisti Rostochienses", the big band FunJazzTick, the CONCERTINO-Ensemble and the Mecklenburg Wind Academy.

The university orchestra

The hmt university orchestra usually gets together twice a semester for a joint project, which may for example comprise symphonic programmes, solo concerti and complete operas. This is a practical opportunity for the students to get to grips with the literature they will later encounter regularly during their professional lives. Moreover, the instrumental students support the university composers, soloists and singers who are just starting out on their careers. Likewise the conducting students, who lead this ensemble along with  Prof. Christfried Göckeritz (orchestral conducting/composition/score playing) and various guest conductors. Each programme is performed in the Katharinensaal in the university, and may sometimes be heard on concert tours. The university orchestra is consequently an important cornerstone of the music courses.

University choir

hmt Rostock’s university choir was formed in 1994, the year of the college’s foundation, under the direction of Prof. Dagmar Gatz, who led it very successfully until summer 2011. Bernd Spitzbarth became the choir’s director in the winter semester 2011/2012. The choir is made up of students at the institutes of music and musicology/music education, i.e. future music teachers, instrumental teachers, orchestral musicians, conductors and composers. Choral singing is an integral part of these courses. Rehearsals are held once a week during the semester. The choir has an extensive repertoire; besides a cappella choral music from the Renaissance to the present day, it is increasingly focusing on larger works. The choir gained its first international experience at the 1^st International Choral Festival in Szczecin in 1998 and during a concert tour of Liverpool and Manchester in 1999.

Rehearsals: Wednesdays, 5 pm – 7 pm in the chamber music room

Chamber choir “Vocalisti Rostochienses”

The chamber choir “VOCALISTI ROSTOCHIENSES” was founded in October 2001 as an offshoot of the mixed choir of Rostock University of Music and Drama. 30 singers, all students and graduates of the hmt, devote themselves primarily to a cappella singing under the direction of Prof. Dagmar Gatz. The repertoire is occasionally extended to include choral symphonic works (Telemann “Die Tagezeiten”, Rossini “Petite Messe Solenelle”, Honegger “King David”, Vivaldi “Gloria”, Dvorak “Requiem”, Orff “Carmina Burana”, Brahms “Requiem”).
“Vocalisti Rostochienses” took part in their first international choral competition in autumn 2002, winning 4 prizes at the International Choral Days in Prague (Golden Ribbon, winner of the Chamber Choir category, Programme Selection, Conductor’s Prize).
Other highlights of their work were taking part in the 1^st “Harald Andersen” International Chamber Choir Competition at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki in 2003, a meeting of Baltic university choirs in Szczecin in September 2003 and taking part in the 4th International Choir Festival in Stettin in May 2004. At the 18^th International Choir Competition in Verona in March/April 2005, they won 1^st prize and a special prize for the best interpretation of an obligatory work. At the “World Choir Games 2008” in Graz, the choir won a gold medal and was named “Champion of the World Choir Games” for winning the chamber choir category.

Rehearsals:
The chamber choir rehearses once a week on Thursdays from 7 pm to 9 pm.

Big Band FunJazzTick

About half of the Big Band “FunJazzTick” is made up of school music students at the hmt, the rest of students from other departments at the hmt and Rostock University. Florian Koeppe has been directing it since 2006. Kerstin Eisenecker previously conducted it for two years. The first Big Band to be made up of school music students at the hmt was founded in 1999 to give them the opportunity to perform on stage and tackle various styles of popular music. The Big Band has been giving regular concerts inside and outside the university ever since.

CONCERTINO Ensemble

The CONCERTINO Ensemble was founded in 1986 by the internationally renowned hmt professor Petru Munteanu. His aim was to promote ensemble playing among young, highly talented instrumentalists and to enable them to gain solo and orchestral experience, also outside the university. Several generations have passed through the ensemble since then. It has been based at hmt Rostock since 1996. It has now established itself not only within the college walls, but also in the cultural life of the Hanseatic city of Rostock. These young musicians, who have undertaken successful tours of Russia, Italy, Romania and the USA, have also gained an international reputation.

One characteristic of this ensemble is that it plays without a conductor. Many of its members have won prizes at major international competitions. The ensemble has already recorded 2 CDs.

Mecklenburg Wind Academy

The “Mecklenburg Wind Academy” comes together once every semester for an intensive seminar for advanced students at Gutshaus Ilow (Ilow Manor) near Wismar followed by concerts. It is made up of students at Rostock University of Music and Drama and members of the Berlin Staatskapelle’s orchestral academy. The players spend a week rehearsing a challenging chamber music programme under the direction of professors at the hmt and mentors from the Berlin Staatskapelle, and subsequently give concerts at venues such as Ilow, Rostock and Bad Doberan. The Mecklenburg Wind Academy has also given several concerts in Poland (Stettin, Kolberg and Kamien Pomorski), e.g. as part of a cultural exchange between the state of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania and the West Pomeranian Wojewodschaft Stettin  sponsored by the Mecklenburg-West Pomeranian Ministry of Education, Science and Culture. Its repertoire includes works for larger wind ensembles by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Felix Mendelssohn, Antonin Dvorak,  Richard Strauss, George Gershwin and Leonard Bernstein.
The Mecklenburg Wind Academy was founded in the summer semester 2005 on the initiative of Sabine Kaselow, oboe teacher at the hmt, principal oboist Prof. Gregor Witt, principal clarinettist Heiner Schindler and principal bassoonist Mathias Baier from the Berlin Staatskapelle and horn player Prof. Günter Weidlich from the hmt Rostock. The Berlin Staatskapelle principals named all teach at the hmt Rostock. In the winter semester 2010/11, Heiner Schindler was appointed Professor of wind chamber music and clarinet at the hmt.

The foundation of the Wind Academy heralded a successful collaboration between the hmt and the Berlin Staatskapelle’s orchestral academy, which focuses on gaining experience of chamber music and widening the repertoire of these young musicians.

Rezension zum Konzert in Burg Stargard aus dem "Nordkurier" vom 15.07.2011

hmt nonet

The hmt nonet is the university’s newest ensemble. It came together in spring 2011 but can look back on a long tradition. The “Rostock Nonett” was founded back in 1961 by members of the Norddeutsche Philharmonie. Over the next few years, this ensemble acquired a reputation which made possible many guest performances in several European countries. Professor Weidlich, whose idea it was to found a new nonet at the hmt, was himself a member of the “Rostock Nonet” for 15 years.

This unique combination of four strings and five winds (violin, viola, cello, double bass, flute, oboe, clarinet, horn and bassoon) offers scope for a colourful, versatile repertoire with plenty of contrasts. The hmt nonet made its debut at the opening concert of the “Bohème“ chamber music festival in 2011 and at the “NDR Culture Start – Young Artists”. Its first independent concert took place on June 23, 2011 in the hmt’s Katharinensaal. This will be followed by concerts in Ilow, the cathedral and the castle in Stettin. The programme will include Ludwig Spohr’s Nonet, a major Romantic work, the Nonet by Bohuslav Martinu and an arrangement of Antonín Dvorák’s Wind Serenade op. 44.