Press releases

• The choir festival will take place from June 13 to 23, 2025.
• The Chorbiennale has been organized by the Kulturbetrieb Aachen and the Stadttheater Aachen/Musikdirektion since 2009. Maximilian Stössel is the festival director. The artistic directors are Georg Hage, Harald Nickoll, Martin te Laak, Prof. Fritz ter Wey and General Music Director Christopher Ward.
• Aachen's excellent choirs perform together with top international ensembles, professional ensembles such as the WDR Rundfunkchor Köln give their rendezvous and advanced choral concerts form the core of the festival.

"Imagine ..." - under this motto, the 8th International Choral Biennale Aachen will bring the whole city to life from June 13 to 23, 2025. "It is impressive how the cooperation between the initiative choirs, the festival management, the sponsoring association, the General Music Director and the city's cultural sector succeeds time and again in putting together a top-class and diverse program that brings together regional and international choirs," says a delighted Heinrich Brötz, Aachen's Alderman for Education, Youth and Culture.
Since 2009, the Chorbiennale has been organized by the Kulturbetrieb Aachen and the Stadttheater Aachen/Musikdirektion, supported by public funds and the Friends of the Chorbiennale, financed by foundations, corporate and private sponsoring and made possible by the active help of the participating choirs. The festival is directed by Maximilian Stössel. The artistic directors are Georg Hage, Harald Nickoll, Martin te Laak, Prof. Fritz ter Wey and General Music Director Christopher Ward.
Aachen's award-winning choirs perform together with top international ensembles, professional ensembles such as the WDR Radio Choir Cologne give their rendezvous and advanced choral concerts form the core of the festival. Choral symphonic performances with the Aachen Symphony Orchestra are dedicated to a bombastic work of choral literature, lunch concerts provide magical moments at lunchtime, satellite concerts and the "Abend der StädteRegion" provide a view of the region. The "Long Choir Night" with the midnight "Farewell" in front of the town hall brings together the large, impressive crowd of choral artists from Aachen and the surrounding area for the grand finale.
"I was delighted that the Kulturbetrieb was able to take the lead in organizing this important and unique festival. The collaboration with the players from the choral scene, our festival director Maximilian Stössel, the theater and the city's marketing department is a great pleasure," says Irit Tirtey, Commercial Director of the Kulturbetrieb Stadt Aachen.
General Director Elena Tzavara underlines the importance of choral music: "This genre is one of the most powerful forms of collective expression. It connects voices, stories and people. The Aachen Choral Biennale with its many performance venues brings people together and shows that music is a language that is understood everywhere. As the municipal theater and music directorate, we are delighted to be part of this special event. The Chorbiennale will once again prove how music transcends borders and makes the world a little brighter - in Aachen and beyond."
General Music Director Christopher Ward is equally delighted: "In June 2025, Aachen will once again be transformed into a singing metropolis and we will play and sing Paul McCartney's "Liverpool Oratorio" at our 8th symphony concert - together with the guest choirs of the Chorbiennale. The audience can look forward to an extraordinary work by the ex-Beatle."
Harald Nickoll, choirmaster of Carmina Mundi Aachen and member of the artistic direction, explains this year's motto of the Chorbiennale: "We believe that the audience might think of one or two continuations of the lyrics of John Lennon's ballad. Imagine... all the people, - livin' life in peace, -sharing all the world".
Registration and application for the Long Choral Night on June 21 and the Evening of the CitiesRegion on June 14 is now open.
Information is available online at www.chorbiennale.de