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The Bachchor Kronstadt is the church choir of the Honterusgemeinde and was founded in 1933 by the then church musician Victor Bickerich. With this orchestra, many J.S. Bach's works were sung in Romania for the first time, such as Matthäus-Passion (BWV 244), Johannes-Passion (BWV 245), and other sacred works of mainly German composers. Over time, a high-caliber ensemble developed, which also carried out foreign tours.
The aftermath of World War II severely disrupted the structure and performance of the Bachchor Kronstadt, and it would take several years for major performances to be resumed. Since 1965, Eckart Schlandt has been conductor of the choir. In this anti-church time, he performed with choir the great oratorios and passions of J.S. Bach, W.A. Mozart, Johannes Brahms, etc. in astonishing continuity and quality, thus musically saving the Schwarzen Kirche (Black Church) as a place of inner freedom in the then totalitarian regime.
Since September 2004, Steffen Schlandt has taken over the Bachchor Kronstadt and since then performed the George Frideric Handel's Messiah, Felix Mendelssohn's the Eliah, Haydn's Seven Last Words and W.A. Mozart' Great Credo Mass at the Black Church.
In the altered image of the Protestant community in Romania and also in Kronstadt, this choir has a non-denominational structure, as only about 50 percent of the singers are members of the community. However, linguistic and denominational differences have livened up the community in recent years and confirmed the typical Transylvanian cultural exchange. With approximately 40 regular singers, the choir is able to perform larger works in a capella line-ups or with orchestral accompaniment. In the annual cycle, the choir appears about ten times in church services, in addition to the big performances at Christmas, Easter, Pentecost and on the Sunday of the Dead. |
