University Choir’s end-of-semester concerts
A very special anniversary
- von Arne Rensing
- 25.06.2026
Folk songs from around the world take centre stage in the current programme of the University Choir of the UDE. To mark the end of the summer term, the singers will take the audience on a wide-ranging musical journey in two concerts. The performances also mark a special anniversary: for 25 years – spanning 50 terms – Dr Hermann Kruse has been conducting and accompanying the musicians.
Kruse, who wrote his doctoral thesis on the choral works of Moritz Hauptmann, has shaped the ensemble’s artistic development in his own unique way for a quarter of a century. He crafts soundscapes, builds bridges between classical music, jazz, pop and film music, and continually opens up new musical horizons with his programmes.
It became clear as early as mid-April that this long-standing collaboration is anything but a matter of course. On that occasion, the singers surprised their choir director with a spontaneous anniversary celebration. In Essen’s former Audimax, Prof. Dr Eberhard Passarge, the university’s music representative, highlighted Kruse’s special significance on this occasion. What began more than two decades ago with the choir’s clear vote of confidence in the then new conductor has been repeatedly vindicated ever since. Today, the university choir is “one of the best university choirs in the country” and plays a prominent role in the musical life of the UDE.
For Hermann Kruse himself, the ensemble’s strength lies above all in its versatility. The choir does not rely on a fixed repertoire, but develops new programmes semester after semester. These range from a tribute to the Eurovision Song Contest, through Gioachino Rossini’s ‘Petite Messe Solennelle’ and works by Handel, Brahms, Bernstein and Orff, to the film music from ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’. This openness is both a challenge and a driving force, and it is precisely this constant evolution that defines the choir’s unique character, says Kruse. “Different styles and musical challenges ensure that the singers continually discover new facets.” Each concert evening is then the result of a continuous process involving selection, rehearsals, ideas and fine-tuning.
Looking back, a number of projects stand out in particular: a concert evening modelled on the ‘Last Night of the Proms’, featuring presenter Herbert Feuerstein and the Duisburg-Essen University Orchestra; concerts to mark the 80th birthday of the British composer John Rutter; Leonard Bernstein’s operetta ‘Candide’; and Beethoven’s Ninth. The performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall alongside international choirs, conducted by composer Martin Palmeri, also remains unforgettable. And just last year, the university choir performed before a wide international audience at the opening ceremony of the FISU World University Games in Duisburg.
Despite all this musical diversity, however, Kruse emphasises that something else is crucial: the special sense of community within the ensemble. “There’s so much life in this choir,” he says. Alongside the musical bond, a strong personal connection has also developed over the years between the singers – and this, he says, can ultimately be heard in the sound.
And how do you stay committed for 50 semesters? Quite simply, says Kruse: “With all the places the music has taken us, the special thing is being able to say at the end, after the chaotic beginnings inherent in every programme: ‘It’s been brilliant once again!’”
Dates
5 July, 5.00 pm / 8 July, 8.00 pm – both at the Altes Audimax (S04), Essen Campus
(Admission is free. Donations are welcome after the concerts.)
Further information & contact details
unichor-essen@uni-due.de
Dates: 5 July, 5 pm / 8 July, 8 pm – both at the Altes Audimax (S04), Essen Campus
Tickets: unichor@uni-due.de
Pictured: (from left to right) Prof. Eberhard Passarge and Dr Hermann Kruse at the anniversary celebrations