Rundfunkchor Berlin’s Academy

The Academy of Rundfunkchor Berlin offers young singers the chance to perform in Rundfunkchor Berlin. During rehearsals and concerts, Academy scholars get to know the multifaceted ensemble work of a professional concert choir. They experience up close the collaboration with great orchestras and conductors.

Are you a voice student either about to finish your studies or already at the threshold of a career? Are you 30 years or younger and eager to learn first-hand about the workings of a professional choral ensemble?

Then you’ve come to the right place!

Rundfunkchor Berlin is one of the world’s finest and most innovative choirs. Every year in some 60 concerts, it presents its wide-ranging repertoire in performances on the highest level. Its flexible, richly nuanced sound, unfailing precision and immediacy have made it a permanent partner of great orchestras and conductors internationally as well as in its home base of Berlin.

64 professional singers blend their voices into a single entity. For them, singing in Rundfunkchor Berlin is a dream career. In the Academy they help the next generation of singers to understand the qualifications required to succeed in this profession.

The Academy of Rundfunkchor Berlin is a complement to vocal studies. It offers preparation for a career as a professional choral singer. The Academy’s pedagogical content comprises:

• alternation in ensemble singing between leading, adapting and collaborating
• stylistic assurance in literature of different periods
• dealing with complex contemporary scores
• perfection of sight-reading

The valuable experience gained in rehearsals and concerts is complemented by individual development opportunities. Under the guidance of Justus Barleben (assistant to the principal conductor) and the mentors of the Rundfunkchor Berlin, skills in specific and professionally relevant areas will be deepened – for example in ensemble singing, choral sight-singing and auditions.

Following a successful audition, you are accepted as an Academy scholar, as a rule for a period of six months. During this time, you participate in every rehearsal specified in your Academy contract and, after a probation period, in the choir’s concerts as well. A member of Rundfunkchor Berlin will be at your side for individual consultation as a personal mentor.

In the Schola, the participants of the Academy-programme furthermore develop an a cappella programme together with selected voice students under the artistic direction of Justus Barleben. On top of that, depending on their interests, additional promotional offers are also made possible.

Participants of the Academy receive a training allowance of 600€ per month, sponsored by the Freunde und Förderern des Rundfunkchores Berlin e.V.
Upon reaching concert maturity, this amount increases to 800€ per month.

You are a voice student either about to finish your studies or already at the threshold of a career, and are 30 years or younger? Then apply now and start your career as a professional choral singer!